Where I've been...and what I've been doing...

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I've been in here. Time flies, you know? The book signing went so well that I'm just flabbergasted. This little cutie pie is six years old. Her name is Allie Vaughn and she asked me to sign her book, which she bought with her own money. I took pleasure in personalizing her book for her. This is the picture that appears in the Progressive Journal News. I sold my stock of books and have another book signing on July 20th in Anson County (North Carolina) at 11 a. The day was a joy for me.


But in the mean time, the garden flourishes.

All week before last we weeded and watered, hoed and dusted. We picked the first little batch of beans last Saturday. We had planted Rattlesnake Beans, which are a green bean with purple stripes on them. When you cook them, the purple stripe disappears, and like magic, it's just a green bean. I cooked them with new potatoes that we dug from our container. So good, cooked together. We also cook cabbage and potatoes together. Do you suppose it's the Scots/Irish heritage?















This is what we harvested this morning...the tomatoes are outdoing themselves...it's Sink Sandwich time for sure!

But enough about the hard work that Mac and I have put in the past two weeks. I am always having to chastise "the Chief" about over doing. This week we had a little scare. Once again I take you to the halls of Wal-Mart. And what have I told you children? When you're not well enough to shop at WalMart, your next stop should be where? So, there we are in WalMart and I'm just picking up a few items that we need (mainly cat food) and I noticed that he was lagging behind. I asked him if he felt alright and was told rather sharply that no, he wasn't. He felt a heaviness in his chest and was short of breath. Now, the day before I spent hours telling him that humidity was to high, he needed to take a break (as I was doing) and come in and cool down. But NOOOOOO, would John Wayne come in just account of a measly heat wave? You don't know how sick I am of John Wayne. Never mind that The Duke has come in from the garden permanently, it does no good to point that out.

So, as we headed out to the parking lot, I tell Mac "you know there's one of two things that can be done right now."
"And that would be?" he asked.
"We stop in at Carolina Pines (hospital) now or you take the $7000 ride later (meaning the ambulance from home...and that's a low estimation on the cost these days). Imagine my surprise when he voluntarily stopped at the ER of Carolina Pines, but actually walked in with me. I knew this couldn't be good.

They ran an EKG, twice. They gave him a blood thinning shot. They checked his b/p (many many times). Then they admitted him for observation. He kept saying that he really needed to go home and the ER Doc finally told him that since he was a captive audience (IV drip already going) he did not feel inclined to let him leave. Good news, it appears that it was definitely heat exhaustion and that now home, he's heeding the advice of the Doctors. In after 11 a. Now, this is the same advice that I have been giving all week. Do I get an M.D. behind my name? No, of course not. I don't even get the joy of having him pay me any attention. Maybe next time!