Wood Storks In Arkansas

My husband saw a flock of birds in the sky.  We both thought they were Geese.  I started taking photos.  I did not get the quality photos I wanted because they were leaving the area so fast.  To my surprise when I put the photos on my computer I discovered they were Wood Storks.  They inhabit this area, but I had never seen them flying in formation before.  They are 36-42 inches long, with a wingspan of 5 1/2 feet. This is the only Stork in North America.





Following is a close up picture of a Wood Stork I found on line, showing details of wings and coloring.

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Eclipse of the Blood Moon

I started taking pictures of the moon Sunday night September 27 before the eclipse was supposed to happen.  The moon looked so beautiful among the clouds I could not resist photographing that big shiny object.




At last between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m. the clouds cleared enough to finally capture a photo of  the eclipse.


When The Sun Goes Down


I took this picture of the sunset last night.  The song, “Mississippi Mud,” ran through my mind.  The first verse goes – “When the sun goes down the tide goes out.  The people gather round and they all begin to shout,  Hey, hey Uncle Dud it’s a treat to beat your feet on the Mississippi Mud.”  That song has been sung over the years by famous people like Dinah Shore, Dean Martin, and Ray Charles just to mention a few.  I have been to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and stuck my feet in that Mississippi Mud.

I suppose I was trying to cheer myself up looking at this beautiful sunset and thinking of a happier time.  DHS is giving me so much trouble with renewing my brother’s long-term-care Medicaid to pay for nursing home care that I have been stressed past my limit of endurance.  These last 3 years of dealing with my brother’s problems have taken a toll on my health.  Sometimes it seems as if everything good I have tried to achieve in my life has taken a hard uphill battle.  I really think future generations are going to have a much harder time dealing with life’s challenges.  That fills my mind with extremely sad thoughts.

Maybe someday I can go back to Mississippi and stick my feet in that nice soothing Mississippi Mud again. Ah, that is a nice thought!  I wonder if a facial mud pack with Mississippi Mud helps wrinkles?  Hmmmmmm

Fighting Bureaucracy


Just a short post.  This bug is enjoying this milkweed flower.  Yellow is such a nice color.

Am very busy fighting DHS over Medicaid for long-term-care for my brother.  Because his business partner did not steal all of ownership to his house they are trying to deny him Medicaid for a second year in the nursing home.  So, me and my vertigo have to have a State hearing and try to keep Medicaid.  They reevaluate your assets each year and decide whether they will give you Medicaid for another year.  Wish that person out there with the voo doo doll of me would quit sticking pins in my doll and remove this curse that seems to have hit me right between the eyes. Ha

A Tribute To Our Friend Ronnie

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Our dear friend Ronnie passed away last night.  Ronnie was a gentle, kind, caring, good man who was 70 years old.  He received a purple heart for his service in the Viet Nam war.  We believe that Agent Orange was what caused Ronnie’s death.  He suffered for a very long time.  Our hearts go out to his wife, children, and grandchildren.  He was deeply loved by his family and friends and he will be greatly missed.  God bless those who feel the loss of this good Christian man.

Think Like A Child

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What would happen in one day’s time if you spent one day thinking like a child.  All I see happening in that day, is a day filled with joy and happiness.

I have reread portions of the book, “Dementia Beyond Drugs,” written by Dr. Allen Power many times.  Here is an example from that book showing the joy children can bring into the lives of those with dementia.

Lenny had severe dementia caused by repeated strokes, and he was unable to speak more than a few words.  He was unable to walk or even propel his own wheelchair.  But when the 2-year-olds from our child care center came to visit, the staff brought Lenny to the rec room, and a bond was formed with a boy named Andre.
While the other children played or ran around, Andre sat quietly on Lenny’s lap, watching the action.  Neither of them was able to speak a great deal, but they seemed to gain comfort from this silent companionship.  Occasionally, one of the staff members would push the wheelchair around the halls to give them a ride.  I guess this was our way of interjecting a bit of doing into their being.
I saw them together on several occasions – different ages, different races, but somehow very close, perhaps bound by their common need for being and their common inability to fully join the world of adults.  Andre preferred sitting on Lenny’s lap to joining in with the other children’s games, and it was always hard to get him to leave.
One day, I took a photo of the two of them together and gave it to Lenny.  It stayed on his bedside shelf, a reminder of a source of companionship and contentment in his last days.

We need to value those with dementia simply for who they are.  Do not view them for what they can or cannot do, view them as adults who do the best they can to function with the devastating disease of dementia.  They are still human beings, they still have feelings. Taking your small children to nursing homes and hospitals to visit patients teaches them compassion and always boosts the spirits of those they visit.


The Shadows of Sorrow



My brother has been in the hospital, he is better and returning to the nursing home today. I have been thinking about J.R. a lot during his hospital stay. I thought back to our childhood.  My brother J.R. was active, hyper, impulsive, and jumped up instantly as some exciting thought entered his mind.  There was no middle ground in his world.  My brother was either on top of the world or down in a deep pit of gloom and despair.

Years ago J.R. was staying with my husband and I to acquire support to go into the missionary fields in another country.  His wife chose to remain at home, in another state, with their three children.  My brother was excited, a letter had arrived from his wife.  As he opened the letter and began to read, the expression of joy turned to disbelief and sorrow.  J.R. passed the letter to me, I found out the reasons he looked so sad.  I sat watching my brother’s face.  I have never seen such devastation reflected on anyone’s features.  I felt his pain, the hopelessness, as his shoulders gradually sank lower into his chest.  His wife was leaving him, his children were disowning him.  They had decided that every family problem and all their unhappiness was my brother’s fault. This time it was not something trivial in my brother’s life, it was something gut wrenching.

I raised my eyes, looked at my brother’s face, and I saw tears streaming down his face.  I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around my brother in a protective hug and tears began to wet my cheeks.  There were no words I could utter that could possibly help my brother.  J.R. could not be consoled.  He hurriedly walked out the door, down the lane, and into the woods.  We left him to his solitude.

Several days later we learned the church had received a letter from J.R.’s wife.  Leaving J.R. was not enough, she chose to destroy him as a preacher and a human being.  She took thousand of dollars of collected support money and she disappeared.  She left J.R. to pick up the pieces of his shattered life.  She ruined J.R.’s reputation as well as ours.

There was no consoling J.R., there was nothing we said to him that mattered.  J.R. sank into his pit of gloom.  He told me his life was over.  Kind hearted, generous, loving J.R. felt his life had hit the bottom and there was no way back up.  I thought his wife had to be cold-hearted to do something like this to my brother.

J.R. packed his bags and went to Arizona to stay with out parents.  His wife would call my Mother and tell her J.R. was a horrible person and that he needed to be committed to a mental institution.  These phone calls truly upset my Mother.

For 20 years my brother grieved for his family to the depths of his soul.  He began a business, he continued to preach in Arizona.  He stayed near our parents to help them with their lives.  Not once did J.R,.’s wife or children contact him.  We were never able to locate his family.

Most of you know what J.R.’s business partner did to him in Arizona.  Stole everything he owned.  J.R. has been mistreated by so many people in his life.  He does not remember his family anymore and I am glad.  Life seems to beat all of us down and sometimes we lose the strength to get back up.  Perhaps God gave my brother dementia to relieve him of the burden of his pain, sorrow, and loss.

When You Wish Upon A . . .

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I was thinking of the song, “When You Wish Upon A Star.”   This song says when you wish upon a star your dreams come true.  Well, I am glad most of my dreams never come true. Ha I was wondering what different things people wish upon to make wishes come true.  I came up with about 10 common things that people use to make a wish.

  1.  Shooting Star
  2.  Turkey Wishbone
  3.  Birthday Candles
  4.  First Star of the evening
  5.  Dandelions as you blow the seeds into the wind.
  6.  Coins thrown into a fountain or a wishing well.
  7.  White horses and only if you see their tail.
  8.  Ladybugs, if they land on you and you make a wish as they fly away.
  9.  Leprechaun if you catch one – they can grant you 3 wishes.  Wow
  10.  Full Moon on your birthday – you get a full year of good luck.

I do not remember my wishes coming true as I tried wishing on these ten things I have listed.  Do any of you remember one of the most important wishes you felt you made that did not come true?  I do, I remember wishing as a child for a Sister like my friends’ sisters.  A sister who would be my best friend and we would do everything together.  I had a Sister who chose never to be my friend.  I did not say that to get sympathy, because I had 2 brothers that were my best friends.  Perhaps I just chose the wrong person when I made my wish.