My Buddy

My Buddy

I will be eighty years old on December 17 this year. WOW !!

I never dreamed of still being around this long. As a teen ager I used to count up and marvel at the year 2000 when I would be seventy-one. but EIGHTY ...That seemed hard to imagine.

But here I am and God willing and "the creek don't rise" I will make it as an octogenarian in December.

So what is an appropriate present for one who has achieved this milestone?

A diamond ring? No. Already have one. A new car. No, my ten year old Mercedes is still ticking along just fine. Fur coat? No. Too warm in Atlanta for the fur I already have.

Humm
What would be a swell present ?

Well,.... I don't have a puppy.

And "happiness is a warm puppy"

So enter "Buddy" my new friend.

He is an almost 4 month old King Charles Cavalier Spaniel. Light brown (red) and white. Blenheim. And just precious.

We got him two weeks ago and my life has been a whirlwind of housebreaking and learning the habits of a puppy after 18 years of life without a pet.

At times during the last two weeks I have thought of having my head examined for wanting a pet to raise at my age. But the pleasure of his company has more than balanced out the bother and messes that come with puppydom.

And Buddy makes me feel young at heart again .:)

Mr. Chancy and I are more than content with this new member of our family.

Buddy likes us just fine too.

Read about the King Charles Cavalier Spaniel breed here

http://www.terrificpets.com/dog_breeds/cavalier_king_charles_spaniel.asp

Octogenarian

I just checked on Mort R's blog "Octogenarian" and learned of his terrible recent automobile accident. His wife Sybil posted this:

"To the loyal readers of Octogenarian
This is being written by Mort's wife...About 10 days ago Mort was severely injured while driving his car out of his garage.He's had two back surgeries and has not regained mobility in one of his legs.It will take months of rehab before he's back writing on his beloved blog.I wanted to thank everyone for all of their wonderful comments over the years.They have meant the world to him and you have brought much joy to his later years.My family and I look forward to the day when he can return to working on his blog again. Sybil

If you are one of Mort's readers please go to his blog and wish him well"

http://octogenarian.blogspot.com/

click on title of this post for link

WW2

Living in a small college town in Georgia we were in no real danger during WW2 and never felt afraid. You have to know that back then we were not as mobile a society as we are now. If we traveled it was usually either in the car or on a bus. Airplane travel was not an ordinary occurrence as it is now.

People on both the west and east coast of the US were more aware of the threats from the enemy. In small inland towns we felt safe.I was 12 years old when the war started and 16 when it finally ended.

My three brothers were drafted. One saw overseas duty in Northern Africa with Signal Corps and one served in England, the Netherlands and later Germany. The third had "tough" duty in the Navy in Hollywood, Florida and then he was sent to Seattle, Washington in preparation to being shipped overseas when the war ended. They all three came home safely.

On the home front we went about our lives in a normal fashion but always concerned about those close to us who were away in the service.


A brief rundown of war time memories:

Ration Books, air raid wardens, saving foil from gum, High School volunteers picking cotton, V.E. mail, gas rationing,and rationing of sugar, coffee, News reels of the war at the picture shows, one pair of shoes, no silk stockings, painted stockings with seam drawn on back of legs. VE day, VJ day .Polio, March of Dimes, fear of polio infection from swimming pool and water fountains. .

We had blackout curtains, air raid sirens,neighborhood air raid warden, war bonds. . My brother mailed me a silk parachute from Germany,brightly painted wooden souvenir shoes from the Netherlands, English Lavender soap from London.

FDR fireside chats, Churchill, December 7 1941. VE day FDR death, VJ day, DDay I wore bobby socks and saddle oxfords, the songs "Bluebirds Over The White Cliffs of Dover", "Nightingale Sang In Barclay Square."

What are your wartime memories if any?

Down Memory Lane

Recently I have been reminiscing about my childhood. I think this was spurred by an old movie video I bought at our library branch's book sale. "Bright Eyes " with Shirley Temple, filmed in 1934.

I bought it so the grandchildren could watch it when they come over. The littlest one ,M, who is 9, reminds me of Shirley Temple. Same blonde curls and dimpled smile. I love and adore M,but when I was little I detested Shirley Temple. My hair was brown, stick straight, and cut in a Buster Brown hair style with bangs. I always wanted Shirley's curls. I wished and wished for blonde curls.

Once when I was about 6 the merchants in Athens had a "Shirley Temple look alike contest on the stage of the Palace Theater. My mother "curled" my hair with a curling iron and topped my "curls" off with a bow ribbon.I competed and lost. A tiny 3 year old girl with "stick straight brown hair" won the prize which was a new outfit.

Not long after that, my mother let her beauty parlor talk her into bringing me in for a "Permanent Wave." Now don't think of rollers, end papers and a solution. That is a "cold wave" and had not been invented yet. Think of a machine with wires and clamps,resembling an electric chair or some invader from outer space with tentacles. The wires and clamps were attached to my head-hair and the juice was turned on. I remember the smell of sizzling hair.

Boy, was I scared. Finally the ordeal was over. When I looked in the mirror I started crying. My hair had turned into a frizzy, scary steel wool mess.

I managed to "live" until I had had enough haircuts to get rid of the mess.

I never had another perm until the "Toni Home Perms" (cold wave)
came out and my girlfriends and I curled each other's hair.

Now, after all these years, my hair has decided to curl on its own. I suppose it is the texture of the grey hair that lives underneath all the sandy blond "Miss Clairol" I get now at the beauty salon.

Wait long enough and wishes can come true......:)


PS: This Thursday I have an appointment for a "body wave" which is what they call perms now. It is not that I am still desperate for curls at my "advanced age." My hair,especially on top has thinned and will do nothing but lay flat.

Wish me luck.:)

Atlanta Flood

Our son and his neighbor took this video from a canoe not far from their homes. It is of a neighborhood club with the playground and pool completely submerged. Their homes are on higher ground and are OK.

This is near the Chattahoochee River in the close in suburb of Vinings, Ga. The rains were unreal and came down in torrents. The river and the local streams all overflowed their banks.

Our townhouse is fine. No water. The sun was shining today. It rained for days and days. The Atlanta metro area got 19 inches of rain in 24 hours. A record.

Incredible.

I feel sorry for the people whose homes were flooded. And 8 people lost their lives.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHDWhwXtDew

There's Always Something

Yes there is:



But this is one I never expected.



I have a tendency to high blood pressure, hereditary I think, and I have been on two HBP drugs for some time now. The last time I saw my doctor, my BP was still too high so he put me on an additional drug, an ACE Inhibitor, Lisinopril.



I got it filled at Kroger for just $4.00 as it is on their list of less expensive drugs. The helpful pharmacist asked me if I wanted to know the possible side effects and I said yes. She told me that a common side effect of this drug, Lisinopril , is a dry cough.



I had been taking this medicine for about 3 weeks now and at night I did have a slight dry cough but I decided I would not concern myself with that and just popped in a Hall's Honey Menthol cough drop and went to sleep.



Then night before last I got up for a routine pit stop and decided my bottom lip felt strange. I turned on the bathroom light and sure enough my lip was slightly swollen on one side. Hmm, I thought could it be the cough drop or what?



The next morning when I woke up I could tell before I looked in the mirror that the lip swelling was worse.



I looked in the mirror and I was HORRIFIED



My cheek was swollen. My lips were swollen at least 6 times normal size.



I showed hubby and he said ice it and call the doctor.

I waited a couple of hours until the lip swelling had reached GIGANTIC proportion and then called and went right in.



I took the Hall's cough drops, a box of probiotics I had just started taking and the Ace Inhibitor pills because by then I felt it must be an allergic reaction to a medication. The meals I had eaten the day before was just normal standard food.



Dr G. took one look at me and the bottle of medicine, Ace Inhibitor, I had brought in with me and he said this is the culprit.



He said this only happens rarely maybe one in a thousand cases. But it was good I came right in because otherwise my entire face might have doubled in size. He said he rarely sees this sort of reaction, maybe once a year if at all. It is possible, also, to have airway swelling and constriction and breathing difficulity which I did not have.



He immediately gave me a cortisone shot and an anti allergy shot of some type and of course said to discontinue the Ace Inhibitor med. He prescribed oral cortisone for 4 days.



Today the lip swelling is somewhat better but not gone. I have a lingering hoarseness and feel a bit under the weather.



From what my doctor said this reaction can happen right away with Ace Inhibitors or years later while on the medication.



Just thought I would bring this to your attention if you are ever prescribed this medication. I would say,



"Just say no"



PS: I just read an article by a reasearch MD at Vanderbilt who said drug companies do not do enough follow up on side effects of drugs after they are given the initial FDA approval and released to the public.

And from
From WebMd.com:
"An allergy to ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers can cause dangerous swelling of the face and of the throat that blocks airways, referred to as angioedema. "It's a generalized, sudden swelling, usually beginning around the lips and face, sometimes with shortness of breath and wheezing," says Jones. "It's life threatening. The patient needs to get to the emergency room."