The mum farm

We made our annual trip to the mum farm yesterday. Driving up, it is a sea of color with pot after pot of mums in various stages of bloom.

I bought two beautiful orange-yellow plants for the front stoop, two rust plants for the urn on the side of the house (one that is opening and one in tight buds to replace it when the blooms start to look sad) and a beautiful dark magenta for the back porch. I also got three packs of pansies for the flower boxes on the shed. I spent a total of $17 dollars. It pays to head out to the farm.

Sleep Test Part Deux

Last night was the second part of the sleep apnea test - spending another sleepless night at the Sleep Center.

After my initial sleep test, I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. There are several contributing factors including my weight and a pretty prominent overbite. The overbite means that my lower jaw sits back much farther than it should and therefore causes my soft palette, when it relaxes to block my throat and the result is a rousing snore. And periods of interrupted breathing.

So last night I went back to the sleep center to be hooked up to a CPAP machine, so the proper airflow could be determined to eliminate my sleep apnea and allow me to sleep more soundly and restfully. Yeah, right.

Like the last time, I was hooked up to zillions of electrodes along with a breathing mask. Sexy huh? Then it was time to try to fall asleep which took about an hour. I guess once I fell asleep, I slept pretty well, but unlike the last time when I was awakened by the technician fixing the oxygen cannula, this time I woke up on my own sometime around 2:00 AM. After a quick trip to the bathroom, okay not quick since I had to be unhooked from the machines, I returned to bed where I tossed and turned for almost an hour before calling it quits. It was a little after 3:00 AM. I was home by 3:35.

So, as I write this, it is about 5:30 and I have yet to fall back to sleep. Hopefully, when I am only hooked up to the CPAP machine and not all the electrodes, I will be able to get better rest. Only time will tell!

A very expensive pond

We have a large frog living in our backyard. And almost every evening it helps itself to our hospitality and takes a swim in our pool.

Often I will take the pooch out at night and hear a rather lout "plop" as the frog enters the water. If I turn on the pool light, it swims around the pool trying to hide - not too smart considering it is just a pool. Sometimes it will still be there in the morning, but more often than not, the frog is gone by the time the sun comes up.

We've had frogs in the pool before, but I usually have to fish them out with the net or will have to clean their bodies out of the skimmer (along with rabbits and moles). This is the first time that a frog has visited with any regularity. Of course, when the pool gets closed in two weeks, it will have to find another place to swim.

My love/hate relationship with fall

I used to love the fall. It was my favorite season of the year - the changing leaves, the cooler weather, the warm colors of the mums. And then, about 9 years ago, we discovered that our pooch was highly allergic to ragweed.

From the time she was about two or three, we noticed that she would start to scratch in mid-August. The first couple of years it was tolerable. And then we moved across town and the scratching became almost violent. After almost overdosing her on steroids with no success, we were steered in the direction of the Veterinary Hospital at the University of Pennsylvania. There she was put into the care of Dr. Kevin Shanley, a veterinary dermatologist.

After being anesthetized and having a large patch of fur shaved, Maxie was subjected to many skin tests and it was discovered that she is extremely allergic to ragweed. According to the Doctor, the skin tests are rated on a scale of 0 to 4 for their reaction. Maxie scored a 10 on her reaction to ragweed. According to the vet, this was a reaction that he had only seen about 6 or 7 times in his career.

So we began allergy shot therapy and basically, although she gets shots all year, she is still highly sensitive to ragweed and still has horrible reactions to it. She scratches, she bites and she rubs her face on the carpet. You take a chance trying to pet her because her skin is so sensitive and when it hurts, she lets you know. She sheds small cotton balls of fur even though she is a non-shedding breed. And our fall is spent inside the house, with the air conditioning on, driving her weekly to the vet for her allergy shot (she won't let me give it to her and it's just easier to let the wonderful techs at our vet office do this - and she doesn't even flinch for them) treating her with antihistamines, steroids, baths with prescription shampoo and lots of TLC. And I wish away my favorite season as I anxiously await the first killing frost that will relieve her symptoms.

So I still love the fall for it's vibrant colors, cooler temperatures and mums. But I sure do hate ragweed.

Now this here's funny..

I haven't posted anything about the presidential campaing as yet. To those who know me it is no surprise that I am a McCain/Palin supporter. But this is a link that I just had to share:

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/

Time to spread my wings

I will spread my wings today. After months of complaining about what is going on at my parish, my husband and I have decided to try another parish near our home. Maybe we will change parishes, maybe not, but for the time being, I think we need to find another place to worship. This has been a decision that I have not taken lightly. After 18 years, it is difficult to think about changing, but the time has come to think about moving away from what is causing so much heartache and frustration.

I think the straw that broke the camels back was when our new pastor finally, after more than two weeks, responded to my e-mail about parish support for me as I take a class in Adult Faith Formation with a resounding "no," he is not interested in having this program in the parish. He knew that I was taking this course and that one of the requirements was to plan and implement a program or event in the parish and, once again, he has declined my offer to volunteer in the parish. It didn't surprise me, although that didn't make it hurt less.

For my husband, who has been as involved as a school advisory board president and parish council president, his frustration has been that people have been complaining to him about the new parish. Because he was on the parish merger transition team, they have come to him expressing their disappointment and looking to him to "fix" things. And he can't. Not that he doesn't want to, but the pastor does things his way with no regard for the people of the parish. To him, communication doesn't help to smooth out changes, but will only bring complaints. Maybe that is his experience with people from the other parish in the merger, but from experience in our former parish, we found that communication was necessary and made parishioners feel like they were part of the process. So he feels the need to get away from the pleas of our friends and be able to pray and worship with out that pressure.

What we found ironic was that the other night we received a call from one of the deacons in the parish who is concerned that he heard a "rumor" that we were not happy. He knew that we were active in the parish and were often looked at as leaders and he was wondering what was going on. I was able to convey our concerns and our experiences with the new pastor and I believe that he was truly shocked at what I told him. And when I told him that we were even contemplating a change in parishes, he was quick to ask us to reconsider. While I appreciated his concern, I would have thought that we would have heard from the pastor, but I am beginning to think that if you aren't "yes men" you don't fit into his plan.

I will continue to pray for the parish and hope that things change there. But I am a realist and don't see change happening until the new pastor is gone. And I doubt if this will happen any time soon.