Pointless photos of the day:

 The cat's a bit out of focus because the cat was hunting bees in the Veronica. Smart, Tom.

Incidentally, notice the harness? Cats SHOULD NOT roam free. It's harmful to wildlife, and it shortens the life of the cat pretty drastically. Build a cat run, screen in a porch, or train them to harness like Tom is. Just don't leave them unsupervised. They tend to get into trouble.

Dad's road is almost a road again. It was torn up and rerouted because the town built a new bridge. The old green one you see in the distance will be demolished.

The road's not open yet (they just moved the barricades for the construction equipment), but shortly after I took this picture they started painting in the crosswalks and stop lines.

Not long now, then.



And that's it for the scheduled posts. See you... next time I have time, I suppose.

Around the yard

Things were a bit dry at Dad's place so I don't have scads of pictures this time. I'll wait until autumn to take shots of dying or dying-looking things. Here's a bit of what's up, though:

I've taken so many photos of these over the years. My favourite Daylily.

A Harvestman or Daddy Long-legs on Pasture Sage.

It's Saskatoon season. The wild ones aren't great this year, but garden ones are.

Playing with rocks

 A while ago I was trying to distract myself with a headache by making patterns and such with the rocks that I wear.

I wear a lot of different rocks. My two fans have seen many of them featured here already. I figure that it's a harmless pastime, though, and since it's the kind of jewellery that goes well with my work, better to have the fun, cheap stuff than to put actual money into things that aren't so fun.

I've deleted the majority of the photos, but I had to keep a couple. If nothing else, it's filler for what's been a very empty blog of late.

Do I know what all of these rocks are? You better believe I do. And you're gonna hear it.

Up top: Carnelian, Sodalite, Kambaba (or Alligator) Jasper, Dalmatian Jasper, Labradorite, Red Jasper (someone seems to have a thing for jasper...), Something that may or may not be a rock (I've had it since high school), Red Obsidian, and Picture Jasper.

Left: a necklace of Iolite, Carnelian, and Opalite (which isn't a rock. It's glass or plastic coated to mimic Opal) surrounding Blue Tiger's Eye, Lapis Lazuli, Snowflake Obsidian, Tree Agate, Zebra Jasper, Jade, Leopard Jasper, Crysotile Asbestos, and Ammolite.

The Ammolite wouldn't be considered a good piece because it mostly just shifts red and green. I don't care; I like it, and it was much cheaper that way.

Those unfamiliar with the program are now thinking "that's a lot of rocks". Oh, so wrong. That's maybe a third of them. Maybe. The rest are just pendants and made for more boring pictures that were, as I mentioned before, deleted.

Rock stores are my friends...

Honestly, though, the rocks make me feel good. Not in a spiritual way or anything like that. It's more about having something non-synthetic (well, except for the Opalite) dangling from my neck. Besides, most of them are nice to play with, and that's an important thing for a fidget like me.

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I got out and took a few photos with my actual camera today, so I'm going to do a couple of scheduled posts now in case my week goes the way most of my weeks go as far as the blog is concerned. Catch you reading later.

Pointless cat photo of the day:

Shooting people at a mall. Suicide bomber at a bistro. Shooting teenagers at a nightclub. The US's increasingly scary-to-the-world-in-general election.

Oil spill on the North Saskatchewan. Church burning at Saint Isidore. Rail station canopy collapse in Chicago. California wildfires.

Have I missed anything? I'm sure I have.



The news sucks.

Let's look at a cat watching bugs on a screen door. Complete with instagram filter, even.





Yep. Much better.

Squirrel!

Well, that's what it is.

Sorry I haven't had time to post. In a day or two, maybe.

Just thought I'd let you know that I'm still around.

When it hits you

I didn't realise how bad off I was after my gut ruptured until I went in a year and a half later for ostomy reversal surgery. The nurses, who were obviously familiar with my file, would casually say that such-and-such would be easier this time around because last time "you were so sick" or "you were really sick" or "you really weren't very well". When a nurse on a surgery unit, who no doubt sees a lot of different kinds of not well, tells you that you really weren't very well, then you can assume that you REALLY weren't very well.

I was lucky, I admit it, but I was also a little confused as to why no one told me how sick I'd been. Maybe they thought that the two days in intensive care and waking up still intubated might have given me a clue?

Well, it's not like I'd ever had that type of experience before, so I guess that maybe it didn't.

As a result, it took that second round of recovery from surgery for me to understand that I had been really sick and, in fact, could have died.

That, my friends, is a weird feeling to deal with.

So what happened when it hit?



Nothing, really. That's the weird part. It's like it was just another thing about my life to file away. On November 22, 2014, I nearly died.

Is that normal, do you think? I mean, it's not like I avoid thinking about it. It just doesn't seem to bother me, or make me want to live life to the fullest, or whatever it is that's supposed to happen to you when you could have died.

I do think about it. I sort of have to. Either that or avoid looking in the mirror, because I have a constant reminder right there. This, by the way, is why there wasn't the usual photo at the top of the post. It's down here, because I realise that not everyone's thrilled about scars and things like that. For those of you who don't mind or don't care, however, just keep scrolling for a look at how I'm healing.

Yep, that's the ostomy scar. For those who don't know what surgical scars look like, the dots are from the staples and will fade. The incision will tighten up a little and contract somewhat. It'll still be significant, though.

It doesn't bother me. I wouldn't be putting it on the internet if it did.

Why should it bother me anyway? It's part of my life. Part of my almost-death. It's an outward sign of an experience that will always be with me, and it needs to be accepted.

I'd be wasting a lot of time on stupidity if I didn't, really.



Aaanyway, there's how things stand. Me'n the scar need to end the post now, so type at you later.

Pointless photos of the day:

Dad's Mock Orange bushes were absolutely full of blooms this year. Here's some phone shots: