Update on FIL

Just wanted to drop by with an update on my father-in-law.  His condition has been up and down so far.  Mostly down.  The staff have been saying that he doesn't have much longer, but he continues to fight to live.  He has a very strong will to live and being a large man, we are told that he could survive several days on his body's reserves...whatever that means.  We've spent quite a bit of time at the hospital, and spent the night there last night.  It is very hard, as you know, to see him struggle to breathe.  But we are confident that when this is over he will be in a better place.  He has lived a long and good life.  Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers.  They mean so much.  I will return to regular posting and commenting when things get back to normal...whatever that is.  :)

Hugs to all,
Cheryl

A somber Monday post....

I apologize in advance for the somber tone of this post.  But my FIL is very ill and may not be with us much longer.  We spent the bigger part of the weekend at the hospital and watching him laboring to breath and struggling to live is very hard.  We've been in this situation too many times before, but it never gets any easier.  Losing a loved one is never easy, no matter how old they are.  I know that many of you know what I'm talking about. 

I don't know what tomorrow will bring or the day after or the day after that.  And so on.  I may be away from this blog for a few days, or I may decide to pour out my feelings here in my "journal".  Right now, I'm just very tired and don't know what will happen...just wanted to let my blog friends know what's going on in case I'm away for a bit.  Take care!!

Until next time...

Where were you....

My son sent me this picture he took from the plane he was on this week just flying out of a storm over Dallas.  I was so thankful when he let me know he was back in KC safely.  He travels a lot and I try not to worry over much, but sometimes it's hard not to especially when you know the weather is bad. 

I couldn't help but think of those passengers on the 4 airplanes that fateful day September 11, 2001.  They may not have seen storm clouds out their window, but the horrors they experienced with the terrorists aboard and the realization that they were going to crash is just beyond comprehension. 

I think of all the innocent people going about their daily lives working in the twin towers, the tourists who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I think of all the children who will never see their parent again, the husbands and wives, the families and friends who will never see their loved ones again.

I think of all the firefighters and police officers who gave their lives that day.

I think of all the servicemen and women who are fighting tirelessly today for liberty and freedom, to protect our country from the ones who would do anything to strip us of that precious liberty and freedom we cherish.  

The first line of an Alan Jackson song goes, "Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day?"  I love that song.  I remember where I was, and I'm sure most of you do too.  Let us never forget.  

Until next time...

What's in a name and other blogging questions

Who in the world am I?

Ah, that's the great puzzle!

                                                                                             LEWIS CARROLL

  Do you ever wonder how some blog's names came to be?  Some are self-explanatory, many others are not.  In this post, I attempt to explain how my blog came to be named.  I'd love to hear about yours.

 

   When I decided to blog, my first thought was what will I name it?   I wanted my blog to be a journal of musings and memories, with some photos capturing those sweet, simple things that I love.  The name I ended up choosing has to do with how being a farmer's daughter shaped who I am and to honor my father.

    My father was a farmer, a very good one.  He was also a great story teller who had many friends.  He "didn't suffer fools gladly" as the saying goes and was often short on patience and quick tempered, his temper made it difficult at home for all of us sometimes.  I loved him very much but sometimes I wasn't sure I liked him. And he loved me... after all, my mother told me he did.  Although sometimes I doubted that.  He didn't understand girls, and he probably never knew much about what I thought or dreamed of.  I know that my two brothers had their struggles also.  They both tried farming with him, even though my younger brother was a college graduate with a business degree.  Neither one was able to work to suit my father for long.  Each of them finally left the farm, my older brother bought his own farm and my younger brother went back into the business world.  They remained in close touch with our dad, though, and always loved him and never held his controlling ways against him.

   I will always be grateful to my father for the excellent care he gave my mother after she contracted the fatal disease that would claim her life in 2 short years at the age of 59.  The same disease that took her father before her and would later claim the lives of my two dear brothers before they were 50.  Even today, I still have a hard time saying the name of that horrid, devastating disease - ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.  Back to my father...he rarely left my mother's side when the disease started paralyzing her body and she needed constant care.  He took her to Florida and Colorado to try treatments that looked promising...only to find out they didn't make any difference at all.  But the bottom line is, he never left her side...he was always there for whatever she needed.  I will always love him for that.  

   After my precious mother passed away, my father visited us often and called nearly every day. He was a good grandfather to my children and he was very fond of my husband, in fact I used to tease my husband that I thought Dad liked him more than me!  He could still be cranky and obstinate and bossy, but we were all used to it by then.  Eventually, I realized that my own shyness and introverted ways made me more sensitive to this headstrong father of mine.  When I was finally able to stand up for myself and throw off the Cowardly Lion ways, I became a much stronger person and I wouldn't let him (or anyone else) intimidate me any longer.  I won't tell you how old I was before I was able to do this...:)  

  We did have good times with the Farmer.  He told us many stories over and over as he got older, but they were always fun to hear again.  He loved to play card games and loved to win.  His favorite expression when he was winning was that "it's just like shooting fish in a barrel."  He knew a lot of people and enjoyed visiting with them, it was a shame that his hearing was nearly gone and that frustrated him.  A hearing aid couldn't help him, the doctor said.  The Farmer lived to be 91, he never really got over the tragedy that struck our family, he missed his wife and sons every day.  And I miss them, too, and him very much. 

  That's a little bit about how I arrived at the name for my blog, The Farmer's Daughter.  I will have to delve into the other areas of blogging that I was going to talk about another time, this has turned out to be a longer post than I intended it to be.  It has been quite therapeutic, though!   

  

Until next time...

It's Tuesday...back to work

It's back to work today.  It will be hard for many to return to work after a 3 day weekend and especially with this weekend signaling the end of summer.  We took a little drive down to the Lake of the Ozarks one afternoon.  Played a round of miniature golf, ate an early dinner, admired the beautiful blue water, and then returned home.  It was a nice drive but a very windy one.  You probably noticed the choppy looking water, but that didn't stop the boaters, tho.  They were out in full force enjoying this last weekend of summer!

 Another area of the lake.

 

We've been visiting my father-in-law as often as we can.  He has been very sick lately.  He's been moved to a different floor at the hospital in Columbia where they can more closely monitor his kidneys and respiratory problems.  He has double pneumonia and MRSA on top of all his other health issues such as congestive heart failure.   It's been touch and go before, but he has always pulled through thus far and hope he surprises everyone again.  Even at the age of 86, he is a tough cookie.  My hubby's brother and sister have been visiting their dad as often as they can, too.  

We didn't get to any of the chores on my very long list of things to do.   Life has a way of rearranging our plans, doesn't it?  Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Until next time...

Fall is on the way!

It's September already, can you believe it?  

Fall is on the way

and with this photo, I thought I'd show

a preview of things to come.

 

 It's raining as I write this and I'm

hopping in bed soon to let

 the sounds of distant thunder and rain 

hitting the roof lull me to sleep.

We need this rain and the cooler temperature

is so welcome.

Too soon we'll be lamenting the cold weather

and wishing it was warm again. 

 

Until next time...