Untitleable

This is an azalea bush right outside the back porch. For years and years that azalea didn't do a durn thing. Barely bloomed. This year? It is absolutely jam-packed with blossoms and the bees are buzzing all over it. Here's what happened- when I still had my beloved chickens, I started throwing kitchen scraps at the base of it, knowing that the girls would come and scratch into the dirt what they didn't eat, and that they would also poop there. 
And my plan obviously worked. I look at that bush and I thank my chickens. I consider that glory the last gift that those sweethearts left me. 
I miss them so. 

Phew. A day. I was aching and tender when I got up and I decided to just go on and call the urologist and get set up for a visit, at which point I know he'll send me for more scans and if the stone has moved, which I am almost sure it has, I'll schedule lithotripsy. This is the stone that I knew was there and which is too big to pass on its own and so must be blasted. I chose not to get anything done about it with the option of getting the procedure if it started bothering me again and it has and I will. Not only am I having the aching and tenderness, I am also slightly nauseous, and have what Chris from Boise in her comment called "kidney stone malaise." Like I said yesterday- it's almost like having a light case of the flu. I looked that up and by golly, malaise and flu-like symptoms can indeed happen with kidney stones. I remember going through this last year and I ignored things for so long that I was finally convinced I had ovarian cancer or some other type of dread ailment and I really was not doing well at all. 
I don't want to reach that point again, nor do I want to experience that screamy-take-me-to-the-ER pain again. 
Not only do I not feel like doing anything very physical, I am also afraid to jostle the stone. This all started up when I walked and did yard work the other day, including trying to haul that giant limb out of the front yard's azalea bushes and also using all my strength to lop that bamboo that was growing in the camellia bed. 
So. For now I'm going to be protective of myself and not push it. Gentle weeding? Fine. Ambling walks? Probably okay. 
But that's going to be about it. 

Today I decided that groceries had to be gotten and I finished my last library book last night so off to town I went, first to Costco, then to Publix, then to the library on my way home. On my way in, I almost hit a dang wild woman turkey who was crossing the road. She was fine, high-stepping it to the other side. I had no incredible encounters today, didn't run into anyone I know. I just got my stuff and got out of town as fast as I could but it was still a long afternoon of it. I couldn't seem to get out of the library, but just wandered around with one book clutched to my chest, having thoughts like, "What is a book? What authors do I like? Where is the biography section?" 
Kidney-stone-spaced-outedness? 
Whatever. 

Got home, put everything away which took about an hour, I swear. As I have said before, I do not have actual food shortage anxiety but something close to that. I can't stand to get too low on things like flour or rice or Shake'n'Bake (don't you judge me) or dried beans or cheese or nuts or...well, all that stuff. It's very similar to how I feel about books. I need to have books within reach that I have not read yet. 

Speaking of which, I took some of the books I've culled from my library down to the little community library cabinet that the lady with the "Beware of God" sign put up. The same one who saw me taking pictures of the old, tumbling down house across the road from where she lives and who came over to yell at me and tell me I couldn't be there even though it is no more her property than mine.  

But you know- I can tell she has some serious problems. AND, she went to the trouble to put up that little library so who am I to judge? I had noticed that the inventory was getting low so I donated some Stephen Kings and a few other assorted books, including kids' books. Those are the hardest to give away but some of them I feel far less emotionally attached to which makes it easier. I did have a moment of small grief about putting Levon's truck book and tractor book in there. Lord, that child was obsessed with heavy equipment and tractors and trucks when he was barely more than a toddler. We read those books so many times. 

Lauren posted some great pictures on Facebook of the kids at Dollywood. I stole some. 

Owen with his dad. 

Gibson with his smile. 

Maggie with her beauty. 

I do not think they've seen Dolly. But I'm pretty sure they've had a very fine time. 

Jessie sent pictures of her little family at Cape San Blas State Park. 

She said it's like camping on Dog Island. I always thought that staying in our house on Dog Island was like camping but with air conditioning and electricity. 

My grandkids are so lucky to have parents who take them on adventures.

One last picture. 
Who knows what this is?

I will be quite surprised if any or even one or two of you know. It's the plastic part of a Goodwill tag. Now- this shirt is originally from Banana Republic, a beautiful shade of aqua blue, pure linen, and I have worn it at least twenty times, maybe more like thirty. And I have been wearing it all this time with this little piece of tell-tale plastic sticking out of a shoulder seam. 
I popped the tag, but I didn't cut the plastic. 

I just noticed it today and it was so embedded in the seam, I had to wait to get home to cut it off. How in the world have I never noticed this? Obviously, I've washed it many times. 
Have y'all ever seen this video? 
It explains the phrase "Pop the tag." I love that song. But please- if the f-word and its variations disturb you, just don't go there. But if that's not a problem for you and you may have wandered the aisles of a thrift store with twenty dollars in your pocket before, you might enjoy it very much. 

Love...Ms. Moon

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