Nature Can Be SO Cruel



He was about this size




This was the action that totally broke my heart



I had the most distressing event on Sunday.  I opened the back door and heard some awful squawking so I went to investigate in the woods by our house.  I saw two robins were making all the noise and I saw Timmy, my little cat nearby but he didn’t have anything in his mouth.  I couldn’t really identify the source of the commotion so I started walking back to the house.  The birds and Timmy seemed to follow me.  Once inside I looked up in time to see Timmy nail a bird to the ground so I ran outside again.  When I got to him I saw it was a baby robin.  I picked him up and he appeared really hungry or at least he kept opening his mouth.  He did have a scratch on his wings but otherwise seemed strong and healthy.  I don’t know if he fell out of his nest or if he ever could fly but it took two hands around him to keep him in place.  I was freaking out and mom & dad robin were absolutely frantic.  Every time baby would peep they would start afresh.  I finally got both cats inside and then baby got away from me. He could do a hop/jump combination and was pretty quick.  He ran over to my neighbor’s porch area and I figured he would at least be safe from predators there but I doubt he lasted long.  Without getting him back to his nest he didn’t have much hope.  I begged God to watch over him or at least end his suffering quickly but it haunted me all day.  Helpless baby robin beseeching me for food and safety and I let him down.   It was not a good day.

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

May 15, 2010

May 15, 2012

In my last post I was lamenting the progress of my garden due to the cold and wet May we have had.  I thought it would be fun to document the source of my angst.  Pretty sad......

A Little of This, A Little of That....

An update on baby Kylie.  After the third surgery I wrote about (to put a mechanical valve in) she had a fourth one.  The last surgery was to implant a pacemaker.  On  Friday (5/11) she was released from the hospital although they are staying nearby the hospital for another week until they can come home.  She will require many follow-up visits and since Juneau doesn’t have any baby cardiologists they will have to make a trip to Anchorage several times a month.

Kylie, leaving the hospital!

A couple weeks ago her cousin organized a fundraiser dinner of Indian Tacos and about $3500 was raised.  In addition, a bank account now has about $1500 in donations and fundraiser site (http://www.gofundme.com/ksabk) has raised $1800 and Krista still has leave donations to draw from.  Many generous people have stepped up and help support them financially and with leave donations and I am so thankful for that support, as are they I’m sure.  I can’t imagine what it is like to go through something like this but I it warms my heart to see how people gather around someone in need. 

May has been cold and wet here and my garden is suffering.  I compared a picture of one garden to how it looked two years ago and it was  pretty pathetic.  Lots of blank spots where stuff coming up has rotted and other stuff just hasn’t come in yet.  I am gathering all my yearly annuals for container baskets but it’s been too cold to go out and put them together.  I refuse to go dig in the dirt with frozen hands!

Work has been very busy lately.  I had kind of a slow winter when I thought, “this isn’t so bad after all” and then I got slammed.  Some days I can’t  even keep up on the onslaught of emails I have to answer, let alone any real work done.  I got through my first construction project though, and I’m working on a second one.  I’m soliciting for space for a new public health center in Nome and trying to reconcile the 4^th quarter billings with DGS’ numbers.  Getting ready for fiscal year end as well.  I feel like I’m making progress but my boss assures me it will be a couple years before I’m really proficient.  I think I was given this job to teach me patience, which has never been among my virtues.

Springing Into Action

The last few weekends (three, to be exact)  we have spent furiously spring cleaning and painting.  So far we have accomplished this list:

Painted the dining room and the living room  ( silver springs, a light gray/bluish color)

Painted the accent wall and the baseboards  (a darker gray color)

Sanded and painted CD shelf unit to match accent wall; replaced knob

Cleaned another shelf unit and washed all the doilies and purged it of non- essentials

Washed livng room windows and cleaned blinds

Scrubbed down walls and door in entry way

Took all dishes out of the hutch and ran through dishwasher, cleaned all the glass and dusted the wood

Cleaned windows inside and out to the slider door

Cleaned all the glass covering pictures

Bought new rugs for living and dining room

Cleaned out cupboards in the kitchen

Painted kitchen walls and ceiling (bright white)

Cleaned all the countertops and stuff sitting on the countertops or on top of cupboards

Polished laminate floors

Raked the garden and yard

Changed out all the electrical covers (shiny  brass ones)

Paint ceiling in my bathroom

Now that everything else is so clean we realize we really need to paint the popcorn ceilings but then all the above would be for naught because it would make a huge mess.  I would definitely have to start over on the cleaning because every time you touch those ceilings pieces drop off.  And gardening projects are calling my name…….

One thing I’ve discovered is I love productive weekends.  I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes from finished projects.  I love working until I’m physically exhausted.  It’s a good thing too because next weekend (weather providing) it’s time to thatch and aerate the yard and then it will need to be raked again and then I need to spread about 30 bags of bark, and then I need to fertilize and lime.  By the next weekend it should be time to make all my containers and plant the annuals.  We have had an amazing spring so far and I sure hope it continues!

Angels Among Us

The other day I ran into a friend who is a cousin to the mother of baby Kylie.  We chitchatted for a while about the ongoing situation with the baby who, that day, was scheduled for her THIRD surgery.  The second surgery to “repair the fix” did not produce the results they had hoped for so this third surgery was to put a mechanical valve in.  This means she will have to be on blood thinners the rest of her life and get more surgeries to replace the valve as she grows.  It was an option they were hoping to avoid.  What was supposed to be a 2-3 week trip is going on week seven now and all their resources are drained, from financial to emotional.  The dad, Nick, ran out of paid leave weeks ago and Krista, the mom, is surviving on leave donations.  If she runs out of leave she loses her health insurance and, for obvious reasons, that just can’t happen.  So, her cousin mentioned possibly doing some kind of fundraiser to help come up with some money for them. 

I got back to my desk and wondered if there was something I could do.  Eventually I decided to get permission from my boss to ask my office for leave donations on Krista’s behalf.  Krista works for General  Services which is located on the 7^th floor of the State Office Building.  I work for Grants & Contracts and the Grants part of my office is also located on the 7^th floor of the SOB, although the contracts side, of which I am a part of, is located in the AOB.  I knew from my days at DGS that you get to know the other floor occupants from the hallways, elevators & bathrooms and I also knew if people can put a face to a plea for help they are more inclined to give.  So I obtained permission and wrote my plea to my office asking for leave donations for Krista if anyone was up for it.

The next morning I got an email from a gal over there asking me if financial donations would be appropriate.   She said if so, she and her husband would like to contribute.  So I told her yes, that would very much be appreciated and told her she could drop her donation off at DGS with Krista’s cousin.  A little while later Krista texted me that this woman, who Krista didn't even recognize by name, had dropped off a check for $800.  Krista was so astounded at her generosity it made her cry.

None of us know why things like this are allowed to happen to innocent babies.  Three open heart surgeries in the span of two months would be difficult on anyone, let alone a now 6-month old baby.  We can all imagine the horror of watching your baby suffer that way, and we can all appreciate the toll it has taken on the parents as well.  The sheer length of this family’s ordeal would be enough to make anyone snap.   They stay with the baby round the clock, taking turns sleeping in a waiting room.  They have little privacy and no sense of being settled. They worry about their 10 year old daughter in Juneau they haven’t seen in almost two months.  Meals are out of a hospital cafeteria, and probably bad coffee out of a machine.  It has not been easy.

What I know for sure is even though we can’t understand why suffering is allowed to happen, it is a chance to know and experience grace, tender mercies we've done nothing to earn.  It is a chance to see angels walking among us, like this generous coworker.  It is a time when we can all see and experience the best of human kind and to see God’s love and mercy through the actions of others. 

Happy Easter

This picture is taken by Pat Costello.  I absolutely love it.  The super low tide had stranded all the starfish and he was there at just the right moment.  Pat is ALWAYS there at just the right moment, he takes some amazing photos.  I am thankful for people who share their talents.

Prayer Request for baby Kylie

This baby is the daughter of some friends of mine.  She was born in October with three holes in her heart that was detected soon after she was born.  Last week she had heart surgery to repair these defects and she is not responding as hoped.  I don’t know all the details but a second surgery is a possibility.  If you are the praying kind, please say a prayer for this little girl.  And for her parents who have so much on their plates at the moment.  It really puts things in perspective to see this helpless little babe, so vulnerable and precious.....so in need of a miracle. 

UPDATE:  Kylie does need to have another surgery to fix the repair on her heart valve.  As luck would have it the lead surgeon is stuck in Texas with weather issues so the surgery will happen as soon as he returns.  All kinds of prayers needed.