A Sad Day For Me . . . Gammie Is Gone

I learned several months ago that my older sister, Herrise, had a cancer operation.  She had a kidney removed and the cancer had attached itself to her colon.  That all went well and the cancer was not the dreaded Kidney cancer, but a more benign one, a Spindle cancer.

But during her prep she had a full body MRI done and they found something in her lungs.  A biopsy conducted showed Lung cancer.  She circled the wagons and told her children that she was beyond surgery and she did not want to undergo Chemotherapy.  They made a bucket list together and she started checking off items.

About three weeks ago she fell and broke her hip and shoulder.  Painful but she was fixed up and was being taken care of by a hospice.  She moved in with her oldest daughter and started her recovery.

I managed to visit her about 10 or 12 days ago.  Nice visit.  She was in great spirits but terribly weak.  She was all skin and bones and was eating very little.  She managed to cheer on the LSU baseball team on to victory as SEC Champions.  She was a fierce fan of the baseball team.

She was fulfilling a bucket list item to visit her daughter and son-in-law's camp in Avoyelles Parish.  It is a fine home disguised as a camp.  Her children would be with her for a great weekend.  She fell quite and took a turn for the worse.  The brought her back to New Roads to Aletha's home on the lake.  She stopped eating, did not open her eyes Monday, was awake Tuesday but was unable to talk.

She died this morning.  She was 83 years old, had a full life, a family of fine children and a passel of grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Gammie is gone.

Rocky, The Squirrel . . .

After barely befriending Rocky, well it all came to an end.  Rocky tried to be friends with a car on the street, Rocky lost the challenge.  He got squashed.

We mourn Rocky but perhaps it was for the best.  He was a pest in his own way.  Cute beggar but pee'd all over everything.  So instead of how to figure out how to handle Rocky, he solved the problem for us.  Pity, we liked him, he was at once bold and yet trusting.  Maybe his trust did him in.  We shall never know.

Rocky is gone.

Sammy, the Squirrel . . .

The other night, really late afternoon but before sun down Judie had quite an animal experience.  We have noticed recently that an animal, probably a squirrel had been on top of the storage cabinet on the back patio. 

So Judie was sitting there on the porch sofa looking out on the backyard, sun beginning to set, quite time of the day when all of a sudden she saw a squirrel hop up on small galvanized storage container and then on to the top of the storage cabinet.  It fussed around the plant on to of the cabinet and knocked off some Zinnia blooms drying on paper towel.  Judie watched him explore around.

So she shooed him away, opened the cabinet and got some peanuts we have to feed the birds (Blue Jays love the in shell peanuts).    She took the peanuts and put them at the edge of the lower patio in the grass.  Well the squirrel came up and proceeded to eat the peanuts. 

She thought nothing of it.  Watching the squirrel eventually take a couple of the peanuts out into the yard a bury them.  She picked up her book and was reading when all of sudden the squirrel was on the sofa with her.  He was right there almost next to her.  She watched him and eventually he got down and scooted off.

Judie decided to name the friendly squirrel Sammy.  I had named the fence lizard Fritz and now we call all the lizards Fritz and they roam all over the yard, in the garage, on the screens on the front windows and on the walls of the house.  Fritz is always on patrol for a cricket or two.  Some Fritz's in the past had been very tolerant of us and others skedaddled away at out appearance. So now we have a friendly squirrel.

We were telling our neighbor about it and he related that he had trained a squirrel to come and feed out of his hand.  It all started when he saw a squirrel up close so he tossed it an unshelled pecan.  The squirrel grabbed and took off with it.  Over a period of some weeks the squirrel has become even closer to him to the point he will feed out of his hand.

We concluded immediately his squirrel, called Rocky, was indeed Sammy.  So we will now address him by his correct name.  Rocky clearly has adopted both our neighbor and us.  He has even come up to the back door and looked in like, "Come out and feed me."  We understand his behavior now.

So we will treat Rocky like a pet and feed him when he comes by.  We can now understand his un-squirrel behavior.  But we know of other histories of such animals, especially flying squirrels.  So it all makes sense to us now. 

And we have a new friend.  Next we have to work on the deer.
















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