Diverticulitis

It started with a kind-of pressure feeling in my lower tummy. The right side got better; the left did not. Pretty soon I make a late evening trip to the Emergency Room, where I'm X-Rayed, CT Scanned, blood-tested and probed until the doctor tells me I have inflamed pockets in my colon that need to be treated so they don't burst. And treatment is IV antibiotics.

When the clock reaches 4:30 A.M., I'm finally taken to my room.

Flash forward 2 and a half days, and I'm let loose with an additional 10 days of oral antibiotics to take and the promise that I will go for a colonoscopy within 2 weeks. I have had my vitals taken every few hours, and my intravenous drip changed four times a day. The first day I was on a total liquid diet, and three servings of broth, juice, and jello was enough to make me want to jump out the window. Later I got a modified diet which tasted like bland on toast, but it was so much better than broth, juice and jello! (And, yes, I know what I'm in store for on the day before the colonoscopy!)

This hospital was just barely on the US side of the US/Mexican border. The care was good, and everyone spoke English (except the folks who emptied the waste baskets), but the facility was in need of general maintenance and comfy beds. And better food. Oddly, for me anyway, the majority of the nurses were men.

I'm glad to be home, and hope I don't have a recurrence -- it can be a dangerous disease, requiring surgery to remove portions of the bowel. But for now, I'm happy to be sipping a glass of non-alcoholic wine, watching a football game, and looking at the holiday decorations and lights in the park.

Keet Antics

We've been letting Baja and Newfie out of the cage for a bit each day. Their wings were clipped in the pet store, but they can fly well enough to flutter slowly to the ground. Once there, however, they can't quite get the lift to make it back to the grill work on the cage where they are able to get around using their feet and beak.

John to the rescue!!!



He hung a soft rope from the cage to the floor, and the keets quickly discovered they could use it to climb up to the cage. Now they can come and go as they please.

Almost.

We caught Ivy and Candy, the older and supposedly wiser keets, blocking Newfie's way back in. They perched on the edge of the door, slightly leaning over and staring down at the climbing Newfie -- resembling really mad and vengeful little green and yellow vultures. When Newfie tried to enter the cage, they pecked her back outside repeatedly. Finally I had to stand outside and give them my best "prison matron" glare, and they backed down and let her in.

Two against one just isn't fair.

RGV Weather

Location: Rio Grande Valley, TX



Two nights ago the weather was warm, people ran around in shorts, and the sleeping was comfortable with just a sheet for covering. We had a beautiful sunset that nicely silhouetted the palm trees, but it seemed to usher in a nasty cold front.

The front brought cold, horizontal rain during the day yesterday, and last night the temperatures hovered right around freezing. There was even a possibility of snow!

We didn't get any of the fluffy white stuff, but if we had it would have been a really big deal. It has only snowed here once in memory, and that was on December 25, 2005. The local kids were all hoping! But we woke this morning to green grass and a bright sun. Temps will stay relatively cool today (high 50s) and then start back up to the more normal 70's and 80's.

Keets X Four

This is Ivy and Candy, the two parakeets we've had for a long time:



We bought them a new cage:



And realized that there is lots of room for a couple more!

So this is Baja (the yellow one) and Newfie (the blue one), named for the furthest reaches of our trips this year, Baja California, and Newfoundland and Labrador.




Pecking orders have been determined and are strictly enforced, except when Baja and Newfie -- at the bottom of the list -- rebel and push their way to the feeder. Ivy often gets upset with the newbies and perches above them, glaring down just like a vulture patiently waiting for some chubby little cottontail to finally kick the Bunny Bucket. She tries to intimidate and push them around -- sometimes it works, but sometimes they just push right back. Baja is better at standing up to her, but sometimes the feathers literally fly as they flap and peck at each other.



As our four "girls" adjust to their new family situation, their squabbles just give us a bit of avian intrigue and scheming to watch!