Memorial to Qwilleran

This is for my daughter, Carlie

Carlie had to make a difficult decision while at college yesterday. I am grateful for her friend, Kate who was by her side the whole time. Here is Carlie's blog post:

Qwilleran's Last Stand

I was looking forward to a restful Saturday for my roommate and I to hang out, be lazy, and play video games. We did just that until around 4 or so. Then my beloved hedgehog, Qwill started having a seizure. After a minute, it was over and he was back to normal. About 40 minutes later he had another one. That's when we took him to an animal hospital. He had an episode when we were there and the vet said Qwill was having fainting spells and they had to put him on oxygen to wake him back up. The bills for keeping him overnight and running more tests were more than we could spend. On top of the bills for the tests we would later have treatment bills. So I made the decision to have the poor little guy put down. I couldn't bear to let him suffer through another episode where he thrashes and squeals, which by the way, is the worst and saddest sound I've ever heard. He is now buried in a place that has a lot of meaning for me in Allendale. He was about a year and a half years old and my little baby. RIP little guy.

Hummingbird Rumble

Remember the bully on the playground? The one you tried the stay away from no matter what? The "Nelson" of the "Simpsons" cartoon world? Well friends, that is the the lovely hummingbird you enjoy watching. They are those bullies. I listen to Birdwatch on the radio on Saturdays. Roger Taylor has commented on this many times. A listener called in yesterday to say that she put a yard ornament of a hummer out too close to a feeder and it was nearly instantly attacked by a much smaller real version. Roger relayed that these little fighters will even attack birds as large as eagles. Brave, stupid or just bullies? We may never know.

Root Canal and Straight Line Winds

Two weeks for an appointment...no way was I missing my root canal. Today is the day. Three payrolls down, lights flashing, wind blowing, computer rebooting...nooooooo. Yes...we lose power. What a storm. They say seventy mile an hour wind. Now for those of you sitting at home, this may mean no tv, air conditioning and cold soda. On Mondays at our stores this means no payroll, melting ice cream, popping biscuits, and NO SALES!!! UGH!!! It also means hustle to turn off compressors, cover, protect, and save everything. Everyone goes home and we wait for the power to come back on. I pray my Endodondist still has power. All the way there, power lines lay over the road and even on some houses. Trees are twisted and really do look like toothpicks. Weird. Some of the roads are closed. I have to be clever to find the back route there. I find it and YEAH! Power! When I finish (I prayed the second round of storms would wait until the doctor finished. What would happen if he was in the middle and power went out?) I check my phone and power has returned at my store in Paw Paw. My crew has everything under control. We didn't lose anything and I can finish the other two stores' payrolls tomorrow. Waiting for the shots to wear off...drool...Anybody else get excited about root canals? So glad it is over.

Morning Doves and Xanax

I love to drink coffee on my deck in the morning on my days off. This morning was no exception. In fact, I was out here at 6:30 am! In to my 2nd cup and now enjoying some peanut butter toast, a whole flock of morning doves decided to join me. One is bad enough, but now I have at least three, maybe seventeen!!! The reason I dislike these birds is that after a while you realize that they have only one tune and they sing it OVER AND OVER AGAIN! Have this happen with numerous doves (remember, I am sure that there are at least seventeen out here) and I am now heading in to find my Xanax!

Fairy Lights and Rumble Strips

Woke up this morning with a headache and bad attitude. Driving to my furthest store, I was distracted by lovely dancing fairy lights on the ceiling of my car. The crystal bracelet I was wearing reflected the morning sunlight beautifully. Mesmerized, I smiled until the road's rumble strips brought me back to reality. So that is why the road commission puts those into the road.

Sunburnt Armpits

Well, you can't call me "Casper" any more. I spent my entire day off at Mom and Dad's pool. Carlie and I set up shop at the table by the pool and made jewelry all day. I floated in the pool several different times, drank ice cold water and reapplied sunscreen (really). What a great day! Timm came over after work and went swimming too. Mom got out steaks and we grilled. Yummy food, conversation and then more jewelry making. We jewelried until sunset. Now, back to the title of this posting. Apparently I was at an ackward angle while making jewelry and enjoying the sun. I SUNBURNED MY ARMPITS!!! Holy crap it hurt to put on my bra, let alone the rest of the stuff needed to barely be legal. Virgin skin, never exposed to the sun before. Yikes! I may not shave my underarms for a while. But...I have some brown tone to my exposed skin. No sir. You can't call me Casper any more.

Just Greedy

I stopped at McDonald's. Those $1 Unsweetened Ice Teas in a foam cup are a steal! I love them. I stopped after work and ordered one in the drive through. Now, it was 88 degrees and I was tuckered. When I paid and pulled ahead to get my drink, I saw the lady before me leave with a dripping, yummy ice cream cone. I pulled up and said, "There is no one behind me, can I add on an ice cream cone?" "Sure," was the reply. The cone came before the tea. Ya gotta follow me here. I reached with my left hand and started to enjoy. Then the hand-off of the tea came. Have you tried to grab one of the full large foam cups and a straw with only one hand? This was across my body too. I had to hand back the ice cream cone (I hit the window frame with the ice cream and needed more napkins.) and then put the tea in the holder and then get back my cone. Thank goodness no one was behind me. They offered to put more ice cream in the cone; I declined. You should have seen them laughing inside. Always good for a laugh.