Welcome to the Misadventures of Widowhood blog!

Welcome to my World---Woman, widow, senior citizen seeking to live out my days with a sense of whimsy as I search for inner peace and friendships. Jeez, that sounds like a profile on a dating app and I have zero interest in them, having lost my soul mate of 42 years. Life was good until it wasn't when my husband had a massive stroke and I spent the next 12 1/2 years as his caregiver. This blog has documented the pain and heartache of loss, my dark humor, my sweetest memories and, yes, even my pity parties and finally, moving past it all. And now I’m ready for a new start, in a new location---a continuum care campus in West Michigan, U.S.A. Some people say I have a quirky sense of humor that shows up from time to time in this blog. Others say I make some keen observations about life and growing older. Stick around, read a while. I'm sure we'll have things in common. Your comments are welcome and encouraged. Jean

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Rain Storms, Infusions and Kissing Frogs


Okay, I’m bored again. Nothing new here so you might as well move along, find another blog to read or go sit in the sunshine or dodge some rain drops if that’s what’s happening on the other side of your window pane. Speaking of dodging rain drops, I tried to do that last week when I came home from the infusion center and the monsoons hit while I was on the road. It was so bad I could hardly see past the window-shield wipers that were going at full-bore. So I pulled off into the driveway to a condo community to wait it out and as I did a huge tree fell across the road I’d just pulled off from. Did I mention the wind? Had I stayed on the road, I would have been smacked flatter than a pancake. By the time got back to my own neighborhood I was so happy to be alive I decided to wait out a second wave of rain in the parking lot of a Tai Infusion take-out food place that I hadn’t been to since before the pandemic. Their front door was standing open and calling my name. 

I grabbed my umbrella but it wouldn’t open. Damn umbrella! It went in the trash when I got home. But sitting there I thought, what’s a few rain drops after my near-miss with the tree? Turns out it was more than a few rain drops. I got drenched but as stood under their store-front canopy waiting for my drunken noodles I’d never felt better. All around me was a fleet of lawn care trucks waiting out the rain but I had the canopy space all to myself. It seemed fitting that I should have ‘infusion food’---whatever that mean---after spending the afternoon with an IV line in my arm getting an infusion of a drug that should keep my bones glued together for another year. Now all I have to do it follow the post-infusion diet for the next two weeks. Lots of calcium rich foods, only one cup of coffee a day and for me that translates to eating a can of spinach every day like it was a bowl of ice cream after a bad break up with a boyfriend. I'll eat other calcium rich foods including tins of sardines as well but I really, REALLY love Pop-eye’s spinach. Fresh spinach, not so much but Levi loves it. I get two bites and he gets one leaf. Eating a spinach salad at my house is painfully slow because with each piece for Levi, I have to break off the stem and make sure each leaf gets some dressing and cheese on it. 

And water: With these yearly infusions you have to drink at least eight full glasses of water for several days on each side of the treatment. Beforehand to make your veins plump up so the needle goes in easier and your veins can better carry the meds to where they need to go. Afterward to protect your kidneys and decrease any side effects.

Speaking of Levi, that dog keeps me on my toes. I thought he’d left his habit of bringing frogs into the house back in his puppyhood when I had to check mouth to make sure he wasn’t smuggling them inside after every trip outside. There was a point when at night I couldn’t even let him into his dog pen without first checking the place with a flashlight and relocating the frogs who wandered in from the cattail bog close by. I had a see-through Starbucks plastic cup staged by the back door to catch them. Fast forward to his adult years. Now when I let him outside before bedtime I put him on his retractable leash and when he finds a frog I hold him back to just short of kissing distance, but he can't pick them up. At least I didn’t think he could until today. I was sitting at my computer when a movement off to the side caught my attention. Yup, you guessed it. A frog goes hopping by. 

My Starbucks catching cup was thrown out a long time ago so I called on my inner child and caught the thing with my bare hands. I didn’t think I could move that fast. I’m just glad that in my haste I didn’t fall and require a trip to ER. Imagine trying to explain that I broke a bone trying to catch a grown-ass frog in my kitchen. While I was holding it I did think about testing the kiss-a-frog tale to see if it would bring forth a prince but: 1) I didn’t know if fairy tales age-shifted like shape-shifters and I’d bring forth a warty old man instead of a young prince, and 2) what if I did get a prince, what would I do with him? Since I have no desire to be a cougar, finding him a princess would seem like the best solution but that would just add another job to my To-Do List. So no kissing amphibians took place in my life. I can’t vouch for Levi, though. He seems to be a dog-slut who will kiss anyone and anything. ©

50 comments:

  1. :D I love it! I'm still grinning from ear to ear.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This was such a delightful post that had me smiling and enjoying. You know I actually once thought of that kissing a frog possibilities to see what would happen. Pretty sure warty lips would have been my only reward.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nope, frogs don't cause warts despite what our mothers told us. If you ever want to try the theory, come over. This time of the year I see a couple every day.

      Delete
  3. Do you suppose Don had a hand in getting you off the road before the tree hit? Amazing timing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, I never thought of that! It was scary and all I thought about at the time was how lucky I was.

      Delete
  4. Yikes! Talk about a near-miss! Your commonsense smarts saved you for sure. We've been downright rain-starved here in NEO. I'm getting sick of watering.

    I literally LOL'd when the frog showed up in your house. I think Levi likes to win one every once in a while. All males have that ego, and he wanted to claim that victory and show you that he is still his own boss.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We got over three inches of rain in an hour. That's a lot at one time.

      I didn't laugh at the frog in my kitchen until after he'd been transported back outside. I dropped him off the deck, a 3 foot drop, then I worried that I'd hurt him in the fall. He took his time hopping away and I was relieved.

      Delete
  5. Ha ha! your last paragraph made me laugh out loud! Good thing you dodged that tree!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The blog I kept when Levi was a puppy is filled with his antics. Got after a baby garden snake one time. I would have burned the house down or moved out or both if I found one of those in the house.

      Delete
  6. Love Levi’s antics sand gl ad you pulled off the road.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Me too on both counts. After I wrote this I realized that frog must have been in the house at least over night. We only see them in the yard at night and it was morning when he appeared in my kitchen.

      Delete
  7. Goodness! An adventure-filled post! I once sunk my minivan during a terrible rainstorm when I was frantically trying to get home. It didn't look like a deep puddle when I drove into it but it was and I stalled out with the water seeping in over my feet. Was pushed out by good samaritans but the van had to be totaled anyway because water got into the engine. I still have trouble driving in heavy rain and won't drive through puddles at all! Glad the tree limb did not smash you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That must have been truly scary! Thank goodness you had come good samaritans near-by to help. Our rain wasn't expected and caught a lot of us surprise, judging by how many of us pulled off the road.

      Delete
    2. Well, the funniest part was - I called my then-husband (now ex-husband) from the van and in a quavering, terrified voice told him I was stalled in a puddle and that "the water is coming over my feet and you have to come help me" and he said, "who is this?" To this day I just laugh about that!

      Delete
    3. Well, you just made me laugh out loud.

      Delete
  8. A dog slut! I love your turn of phrase. Nothing exciting here either. And ain't that just swell?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I also think you had a helping hand from Don.

    Ribbitt. Ribbitt. Ribbitt

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OR maybe he was tired of me bellyaching about the state of the world and helped push the tree over. Just sayin'. LOL

      Delete
  10. I love it when you write about Levi. That dog fell into a pot of jam when he found you --putting dressing on each leaf after removing the stem! Ha! But I know he brings good vibes to you, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He's really the highest maintenance dog I've ever had. Very demanding and stubborn. The retired vet who lives next says its a trait of the breed and Levi ticks all the boxes for best in breed in character and looks.

      Delete
  11. Excellent job listening to that inner voice and getting off the highway. Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly😘

    ReplyDelete
  12. I hated driving in storms and at night I could do it I just didn't like doing it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're not alone. I don't drive after dark anymore. Didn't have a choice with this rain which wasn't predicted.

      Delete
  13. You've got frogs? I'm jealous! I hear frogs everywhere, day and night, but I never see one. I just hear the ker-plunk when they jump into the water. Clearly, I need to borrow Levi for a week!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Be thankful Prince Frog didn't whizz on your hand. Then you'd have to worry about warts!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm so glad you had avoided that near catastrophe... intuition is a wonderful thing and is often protective! The Thai Noodles were definitely a Bonus. We just had Thai Food Today, had the Restaurant all to ourselves for about 3/4 of the time, which was nice, since we are fed up with doing the Take-Out thing... nothing is as fresh by the time we get it Home. Anyway, it's good you caught the Frog and relocated it safely resisting a smooch. *Smiles* My Single Senior Friends usually say they just don't have it in them to Date now... I could think of a lot of reasons why I wouldn't either if I was Single and my Age.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A place near me is doing so well with pick ups they say they're not sure they will ever open their dining room again because they don't have the same overhead with it closed. I think they are probably the exception though.

      I spent the entire '60s dating. Wouldn't want to go through that at all again. Plus I watched my dad do it and know the added problems you get with senior dating and he had a fabulous lady friend.

      Delete
  16. Hilarious story. I don't think I ever had a dog that caught frogs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You'd have to like frogs to live where I do and Levi sure seems to. I often wonder what he's thinking when he's nose to nose with them. They are smart enough not to jump right then.

      Delete
  17. At least he doesn't eat the frogs. But it would be disconcerting to see them in the house.

    For nothing new happening it seems like an awful lot of harrowing adventure. Me? I'd lay low for awhile!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would hate that if he ate them. You have a cat so I'm sure you know what it is like to have "presents" left for you dead or a live or half eaten.

      Delete
  18. Thanks for my morning laugh! Your dog and mine have some interesting habits. We call ours a food whore, so there you go. Although he is getting very slow and sleepy as he ages out. I'm dreading the day we have to part with him, but then we never thought he'd live to the new place with all his medical problems.

    Some of the downpours we're getting lately are insane. I'm horrified by the tree falling story. So glad you pulled over!

    Turns out the creek and wetland behind us has quite a population of bullfrogs, and they were mating when we first arrived. They've quieted down now, but for a few days I thought there was a fog horn in the creek. LOL.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh you are in for a frog in invasion when they all hatch. I happened to be outside the shortly after they hatched and were all coming up from the cattail bog. A hundred tiny frogs easily coming up toward the dog's pen.

      I can not believe the down pours! I always worry about my sump pump with normal rains. Those we had last week were crazy. Without naming the road are you near the river that runs along side the east side of town? If so, that road that runs along side of the river is the road was where the tree went down.

      I dread Levi going because I've never lived without a dog in my entire life except when I was living in a college door. Do you think you'll get another?

      Delete
    2. Oh, lordy. Just what we need. Yikes.

      If I understand you correctly, we lived on that river and just moved south. YIKES...we drove that road pretty much daily. And the trees out by us were constantly being pruned back by the power companies. Huge branches would fall (or whole trees) and we would be without power for days. Good times.

      Delete
    3. Oops...hit the button too soon. We have talked about another dog, and DH isn't keen on walking a dog into his 80's. He's afraid the dog will pull him over. So who knows? We were going to take a break so we could travel between dogs...they really add to the cost of a vacation when you tally the kennel cost. And this dog could ONLY go to the pet spa. LOL. But travel seems dubious now. I haven't had to put a dog down - ever - so I'm afraid it will be so awful I don't want to live through it again. But who knows? They add so much wonderful energy to the house.

      Delete
    4. Sounds like the same road. Beautiful drive and easy way for me to get down the "doctor's row" without the traffic by the Christian college and the sculpture park.

      Travel won't happen for you this year. At least not internationally. :(

      Delete
    5. Yup. We are persona non grata all over the world. And deservedly so.

      Delete
  19. you are so funny with your reasons on why not to to kiss frog, I agree with you will create lot of unnecessarily work lol

    Asha

    ReplyDelete
  20. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 love this! I can just picture everything you wrote 😍

    Deb

    ReplyDelete
  21. Levi would be in deep doo doo in Arizona during monsoon season. We have poisonous toads (Sonoran toads) that dogs merely licking them can kill them. We have to be uber vigilant during this (upcoming) season.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have a few poisonous toads here too, but not where I live. I actually took a frog from my yard down to the vet to identify it because I freaked out the first time I found one in his mouth.

      Delete
  22. You write in a very humorous manner. I really enjoyed this!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment. If you are using ANONYMOUS please identify yourself by your first name as you might not be the only one. Comments containing links from spammers will not be published. All comments are moderated which means I might not see yours right away to publish through for public viewing as I don't sit at my computer 24/7.