May...Anniversaries and Birthdays...John's Treatments...Sister's Day...And More

 

If April showers bring May flowers...we should be a boutique this year!

Chris and Tina have now celebrated their 6th anniversary...and tomorrow, John and I will be back together for 8 years!

Aiden's birthday was the 2nd, and we will be celebrating with Jess' on hers later this month.

Tina came back from vacation...and we enjoyed Sister's Day with quiche, grapes and a homemade chocolate cake that Chad made, and sent with her.

She found a new "Weeping Pussy-willow" that is too cool.

Chris brought Lachlan over, yesterday, and he is now nearly 1 and has 4 teeth and is walking already.

 

He also brought his new Martin guitar...playing a bit...and that was nice. I love listening to him play and sing.
 

Busy times!

After all the rains it is 75 and beautiful outside...trees are leafed out and everything is clamouring weed me...prune me...plant me...so it is time to play outside in the soil a bit.

My Mockingbird pair is back.

Loud, annoying, too far up North...but totally captivating. 

The doctors have now coordinated John's care, and post tumour/cancer removal treatments...we have a great team!

Radiation begins next Monday...followed by chemotherapy...then up to 2 years of immuno-therapy.

And we've already made reservations for our upcoming Mission Impossible Date...and looking forward to July's Dinosaur Date!

...yes...Jurassic Park will be releasing Rebirth...

Always have something to look forward to!

Lastly...politics...

Yeah, 100+ days in...and not surprisingly...it is STILL a shit-show.

...who saw that coming, eh???

The ports are emptying and so are some of the shelves.

Prices are slowly creeping up.

But, hey...you owned the libs...right???

Love,

Carla

(...who must now go play in the plants...)

 

 

 

 

 

End of April...100 Days...Senior Citizen...And More

 

We've survived 100 days of the Trump Administration....

Only 1360 left to go.

Try not to think about it.

We'll get back to this.

So...it has been an eventful month.

See the tiny arrow pointer on John's MRI?

He developed a brain bleed post surgery...it was scary.

Now resolved...but a real problem if it had continued.

His head has healed nicely.
 

And the staples are removed.

He has his new primary (Dr.C) and thinks he is going to be a good fit...and tomorrow goes to get another MRI and discuss the oncology/radiation going forward.

To make sure Ethel doesn't re-stage....later, to deal with the lung cancer which has come back.

...it's always something... 

It helps (me) to be involved (3-way) during these appointments...even when I can't be there in person.

He drove out last week (as soon as he was able) to celebrate my officially becoming a Senior Citizen (...65....how the hell did that happen???)  and it was wonderful with steak and cheesy french onion soup and salad. Chocolate and a balloon and even brought me my favorite...a piece of cherry pie!!!

...it was perfect, honey...

Tomorrow, we see what the game plan is...

 Catching up with the boys.

Chris is doing great...and Lachlan is walking (and dancing) now. He is back to playing guitar and the little guy loves it!

Lennon is fine...got his new roof done and sent me the cutest 1.5 quart crockpot for my birthday! We spend a lot of time discussing politics, now.

James, Jess and the kids were over on Saturday...Rylee has a new job...Brenden is a wall...Ethan and Aiden are back on the ball-field...and I got to hear some new reggae that he is working on!

About those hundred days...

It has been such a shit-show one barely knows where to begin.

Signalgate...tariffs...stockmarket plunges...more tariffs...lawsuits...lies...more lies...economic disasters...plunging consumer confidence...et al

Economists are predicting real supply chain disruption by June/July.

MAGA...getting everything they voted for...sorry about your FEMA.

Worst 100 days in 80 years!

...sigh...

45 more months.

Watched the latest Venom

Which was entertaining....and I highly recommend!

Tried Wendy's Thin Mint Frosty

which was nasty and I do not recommend.

...bleah...

It is basically thin mint cookies...ground with chocolate syrup and layered in the Frosty.

The consistency is that of chocolate covered beach sand.

...yeah...

Have a Great Week!

Love,

Carla and Tux

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April...Mushrooms...John's Surgery...and WTF has Happened Our Economy

 

t

It's April...

 

The mushrooms are beginning...red-buds are bloomed by the road-side...daffodils are swaying in the warmer Spring air...and Ethel has left the building!!!

Spent a day before surgery just having brunch and playing with Tux... 

even managed a short nap together!

Then Surgery Day arrived.

He was pretty chill about it.

 ...of course, he would be sleeping through the whole business...

The rest of us?

Yeah...not so chill.

Terrified, actually.

Eric and Melissa drove in from Ohio.

May and Amy from Plainfield.

Robert and Jonathan from Indianapolis.

And we waited.

The operation seemed to last forever.

...it was hours...

But the surgeon seemed very happy...and it was non-complicated and successful!!!

ETHEL has left the building.

He thinks all of her!

Better still...John was able to leave the hospital, Friday, and is doing very well!
 

We are thankful...and he knows how much he is loved!

Monday, they will do a scan to make sure they removed all the tumor...also find out if it was benign or malignant.

We are thankful.

But, as in life, there is ALWAYS something~

When they did the PET scan pre-surgery...they found the lung cancer has returned.

Now that we've survived the brain stuff...well they're going to meet next week and discuss what's next.

~sigh! 

...before the surgery John set us up on a Mission Impossible Date when it releases in May!!!!

My eBay mushroom guy was able to send morels early...and sent a pound of grays...my favorite.

Finished the last of them yesterday with rib-eye steak...which was amazing!

And despite the return of the cancer we are staying pretty positive about things.

Watch Cory Booker give his marathon 25 hour speech!!!

 Reminding us to get in Good Trouble.

And a bunch of us listened...and did exactly that!

And the leopards have been feasting...

Mostly on MAGA faces...who have entered the Find Out portion of their misguided voting.

Tariffs are on...then they are off again...the stock-market has been a wild ride...trillions have been lost...in short...

It's a shit-show.  

But, seriously, didn't most of us know it was going to be????

 

Love,

Carla, John, Gadget and Tux

 

 

 

Rain...Rain...and More Rain

 

It's going to rain forever...

 

Tux is settled in his tunnel playing...I'm sipping hot tea with honey and contemplating a relaxing bubble bath.

It's all good.

Spring has sprung in earnest...the grass is bright green and the willow tree has taken on a yellow-green mist.  Pollen is back...and although it is early...the world looks very mushroomy out.

Soon.

Had our (Chris, Lachlan, Don and I) Spring Brunch this week with Chinese and chat.

Plotting and planning for Lachlan's first birthday in May!

 John joined The Euchre Gang where he and our friend, Jan, beat everyone yesterday!

And he pulled together the last piece of the puzzle recently which we have been working on for a few years.

By finding the previous owner of his Charger!

And got a laugh as she sent him a photo she had taken of her own when she owned it.

LOL!

Going to catch up with everyone...get my bath...maybe a good nap with the cat...then fixed pulled BBQ Pork with baked beans and potato salad.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Love,

Carla
 

...not that you asked

 

The Administration this week...

 

And kudos to the Federal judges who are pushing back on some of this clusterfuck...they keep me sane...well...saner.

This week's newscycle seems to be completely orbiting around Signalgate.

...in case you've been in a coma...Signalgate happened when high officials used the app Signal to coordinate attack plans...a few hours before the actual bombing...oh and they inadvertently invited in a journalist...oopsie...

Persons of note on the text were Vance..Rubio...Hegseth..Waltz...and a few others...including Goldberg from The Atlantic.

Mike Waltz admitted he was the one who sent Jeff the invite.

What SHOULD have happened:

Hegseth should have immediately fired Waltz...

Then either resigned, himself.

...not likely...and I didn't expect it...

OR...admit there was a huge cock-up...owned it...vowed to never ever ever use Signal for matters such as these in the future...and apologized.

Was ANY of  this done?

Of course not.

They denied...deflected...blamed Goldberg (how does THAT work???)

and dragged the whole thing out until now it is a major investigation.

Underscoring the absolute incompetence of this Administration.

...they made Mayor Pete drop an F-bomb on live TV for crum's sake...

 

Shaking my head,

and wondering how we are going to survive four years of this...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Springtime...Fred and Ethel...And More

 

Yeah...it has been kinda like this...

I live in Indiana because I love four distinct seasons...just not ALL in the same week, okay????

But the Spring Birds are back...both the lawn and moss are greening nicely...and can

 morels be far behind???

But it is still March, and this week we have literally had everything from sunshine and 80 degrees to 28 degrees and snowing.

So not quite yet.

It is grey and overcast today...cold (40's) and rainy.

Spring in Indiana is a process.

John and I have been dealing with another process.

Recently he has felt a little off...health-wise.

After a fall...some gait issues...some vision issues...and just being a bit off...he ended up in ER for hours.

When they had CT Scanned...EKG'd...MRI'd...and various other tests they concluded it to be a moderate sized tumor on the Occipital area of his brain.

Yeah...I know...

The symptoms we were seeing wasn't a direct result from the tumor, but edema that had built up around it

He is taking a steroid that seems to be handling the reduction of the swelling.

The symptoms are reducing.

A great team has been assembled.

Most of which we knew from the lung cancer team...and a neurosurgeon.

They have surgery scheduled for April 9th.

It has been a week.

Our friend, Kathy, added some levity recently when she reminded us that

"Now...we have FRED and Ethel."

...think The Honeymooners...

                                                              Ethel
 

We are in a more positive mindset.

...it's always something...

And we will, of course, see each other before the surgery...when Ethel gets her eviction notice.

Love,

Carla, John and The Cats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It Has Been Two Months...

 So, why does it feel like 10 years???

If you're not exhausted...I can only assume you haven't been paying attention.

For the rest of us...Oh My God!!!!!!!

Between Trump and Musk...it is impossible to keep up with the insanity (and subsequent lawsuits).

Even Chief Justice John Roberts had to reprimand him recently

"Just because a judge hands you a ruling you don't like...you can't ask that they be impeached!!!"

Predictably, he has already threw Marc Rubio under the bus.

 

...and we knew that was just a matter of time...

Prices are up.

Jobs are down.

Inflation is creeping back up.

The stock-market is down. 

Deportations have started...but it is not just illegals...and in some cases even U.S. citizens.

My middle son described it best.

"It's a shit-show."

And so it goes...

 

 

 

"STEVE...I'm just calling it- Steve!!!"

 

~sigh~