Flower Friday for Mom

Mom's been kinda down in the dumps lately and we thought that we'd better help cheer her up with flowers for Friday. Here is the Virginia State insect, the tiger swallowtail, extracting nectar from one of our butterfly bushes.

Mom had what she thought was a minor fender bender on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, it caused her car's radiator to crack so it leaks when the engine is running. This happened to her old beloved 91 Camry for which she had dropped all collision coverage. She has another old car, a Buick, that Grandpa (her dad) bought shortly before he died ten years ago. When she went to use that car, the battery was dead because she doesn't drive it very often. She knows she needs to buy a new car, but she hates the hassle, and no car out there really "grabs" her. She could get the Camry fixed, but she knows it's time to move on. She's a rather practical person and doesn't really want or need all the expensive bells and whistles that cars come with these days. And she's so disappointed in the gas mileage of most cars out there. Maybe she should go with a Prius, but even it comes with so many extras.

Then there's grandma. She's now under hospice care in a nursing home, and continues to deteriorate. It makes Mom sad.

Then there's the termites. When Dad took down his big picture over the mantel as he was preparing to move, they discovered termite damage. After getting some estimates from exterminators, Mom had the house treated for termites today. She's using the bait method. The technician told her to wait a month or two before she has the drywall and mantel repaired or replaced.

And, of course, she misses Dad as we do. She plans to visit him in California for a week starting August 13 so we won't get to blog then. She's worried about Grandma during that time, but the hospice nurse urged her to stick with her plans.

Back to Flower Friday, Mom tried to catch Mr. Swallowtail with his wings fully opened, but she could not get him to cooperate with her inexpensive camera.

Here's a native plant, cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) that Mom put in a pot for the deck. It had seeded itself outside the flower bed and Mom wanted to rescue it from the path of the lawnmower. This flower is a great nectar source for hummingbirds.

I did give Mom some good news today. I had blood work done at the vet's (I was a good boy unlike some sister who shall remain nameless), and my thyroid level is 4.0. "Normal" is 1.5 to 4.5. That means that my medication dosage (1/2 a pill with each meal) does not need to be increased. Hooray! More meds would probably make me lethargic.

I told Mom that if things go really bad, she can run and hide like I do. She replied that you can't hide from problems because they will still find you.

~Jake