For the past four days we have waged war against raccoons. First, some background.

We keep our dog food and bird seed on the back porch in metal cans. The two bird seed cans (one for black oil sunflower seeds, and the other for thistle seeds) are on one end of the porch - just a few steps away from our many bird feeders. Jake’s dog food can is on the other end of the porch next to his bowl. The convenience of having the cans close to where they’re needed helps us keep our pets - both domesticated and wild - fed in a timely manner. The cans look like small trash cans - with lids that fit snugly but which can be lifted off without much effort. Each holds a large bag of their respective foods.

Several nights ago, a raccoon turned over the dog food can, took off the top, and helped him/herself to a midnight feast on dog food. The sound of the can falling over woke Ron, and he switched on the back porch light. The raccoon ran across the patio and then turned around and stared back at Ron.

Ron wasn’t about to let a raccoon get the best of him, and so the next day, he put a stick of firewood on top of the can. “That’ll keep ‘em out,” he declared.

It didn’t. That night the raccoon again turned over the can and enjoyed a dog food meal. The firewood was lying on the porch next to the overturned can. So Ron added a heavy log to the top of the can and braced it against the brick on the side of the house. “They won’t get THAT off,” he said.

They did. We both slept through the sound of the log, firewood and can falling over on the porch. The raccoon enjoyed a third night of feasting on Jake’s dog food.

Yesterday I bought some bungee cords. I hooked one to the handle on one side of the can, threaded it through the handle on top of the lid, and then hooked the other end to the handle on the other side of the can. Then, even though the bird seed cans hadn’t been touched, I bungee corded them as well. An ounce of prevention and all that.

Morning dawned - and the dog food can was unmoved and unopened. Take THAT, raccoons!

Here’s my mother’s video on how to make old-fashioned homemade biscuits. Wonderful video, isn’t it?

Please read the post below - copied with permission from Lily’s CaringBridge website. Lily is 8 years old, and she has leukemia. You can read more at http://lilysgarden.org.

Lily, April 2009

Good Morning! Well we survived our first home administration of chemo yesterday. The hardest part was slowing Lily down. I wanted to read the instructions; however Lily was very confidently hooking everything up. She, of course, was right; however I did insist I administer the actual chemo and Zofran. But she did all of the prep of the port and then flushes. She is so funny. She just confidently cleans the tube, hooks up the saline, draws back blood to make sure it works and pushes in the saline. I guess it is good she wants to participate in her medical care .

Yesterday she felt ok. She didn’t feel as good as she has and was pretty tired. However with a 3 1/2 hour nap in the middle of the day and lots of anti nausea medicine she did pretty good.

We had PT yesterday however her therapist cut the session short after about 15 mins because she was so tired. It was cute she would be red faced from trying and he would say, “Lily, do you want to take a break you look tired?” She would say, “No I’m fine.” He would then come up with an excuse to go get something to make her rest. They would start up again and he would have to break again. I was appreciative, though, that he noticed how tired she was and cut it short.

She has told me that PT is not as much “FUN” at this place, which I can see since they are really working her hard to get her back to functioning. However, she said she likes it better because she wants to get back to gymnastics and soccer and she knows she has a lot to do to get back. It just breaks my heart to watch her at PT. It reminds me of how much she has lost from the treatment. I pray she will be able to go back to gymnastics and soccer, however right now it appears that will be a LONG way off if ever. She still can’t run or even skip and for even the walking activities her therapist has to keep a belt on her so he can keep her upright.

Well, I’m sure you have all heard about Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett passing away yesterday. While it is sad everytime I see such excessive coverage of something like this on TV it just disappoints me. I think of all of our friends we have lost since Lily was diagnosed. Much sadder and heroic stories than Michael Jackson. These are kids that have fought a hard battle - kids in the prime of their lives that have died. But there is no news media coverage of their deaths.

There is nothing mentioned. This year two children at a local high school here in town (Ravenwood) lost their lives to leukemia. TWO!!! I never saw one story. You would think that the death of two high school students from the same high school with the same horrible disease would catch some type of media attention but it doesn’t.

In fact, does anyone reading this (other than the other cancer parents) know that this week was CureSearch’s march on Washington to try and raise awareness and money for childhood cancer.

Now I will admit I don’t watch a ton of news, but I haven’t seen a word. Not one word of the thousands of parents and children that are in Washington this week for childhood cancer. Many of these parents have lost a child to this disease. How many incredible stories are at that walk?? Now they will be sad stories, probably too sad for most of us to comfortably watch, but does that mean we just push them under the rug.

So, since the news media won’t report it I guess it is left to us cancer parents to spread the word. Days like yesterday renew me that we have to make a difference - we have to change this. We can’t keep having our children die or be disabled by the harsh treatments of cancer.

So, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died yesterday - Farrah from cancer and Michael from cardiac arrest. However, on Wednesday a seven year old little boy here in Nashville named Nate Richard died. He was diagnosed in 2007 with ALL (the same diagnosis as Lily). He completed his intense treatment and has been doing very well in maintenance. Last week due to the low blood counts you must maintain even during maintenance therapy to treat leukemia he got a infection. They admitted him to the hospital as they have done so many children with cancer for 48 hours of antibiotics. He continued to get worse and worse. Then finally he went into cardiac arrest (The heart is often weakened by the chemo). He then died at around noon. Another precious life lost. Cut short.

Now, he and all the kids at Vandy and throughout the country battling this disease are my true heros. They are the people that need attention and money to find them a cure. And a cure that not just allows them to live but one that allows them to live full lives. Too many kids are significantly impaired by these treatments.

Well, ok to bring this full circle. One of the greatest Michael Jackson songs was “We Are the World.” Yesterday as I was driving the only songs any radio station was playing were Michael Jackson ones. Yes, we had Thriller when we were little and I can still remember my brother moonwalking across the living room (I may have joined in every now and then). And yes Michael Jackson did get wierd later on but we will just remember the earlier less strange years for purposes of this post

However, who can forget “We Are the World.” You had so many big stars singing. I think it was for the kids in Africa and hunger, but yesterday as I was listening to the song I realized how true the words were for childhood cancer too.

The children are the world. They are our future. What we need to do is focus on them and start giving them the future they deserve. Because it is SO TRUE that “Change will only come when we stand together as one.”

Here are the words

WE ARE THE WORLD

There comes a time
When we heed a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
And it’s time to lend a hand to life
The greatest gift of all

We can’t go on
Pretending day by day
That someone, somewhere will soon make a change
We are all a part of
God’s great big family
And the truth, you know love is all we need

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

Send them your heart
So they’ll know that someone cares
And their lives will be stronger and free
As God has shown us by turning stone to bread
So we all must lend a helping hand

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

When you’re down and out
There seems no hope at all
But if you just believe
There’s no way we can fall
Well, well, well, well, let us realize
That a change will only come
When we stand together as one

[Chorus]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me

Can you read that and NOT do everything you possibly can to find a cure for childhood cancer?

I went to the dermatologist today to have additional tissue removed from around where a “moderately abnormal” mole was removed a couple months ago. I’m quite the wimp when it comes to doctors and dentists. I just hate going. However, since Lily was diagnosed with leukemia and has had to go through SO much needle pricks, chemo, accessing/deaccessing her port, lumbar punctures and bone marrow biopsies, I figured I could endure the few needle pricks necessary to numb the area for my procedure. Despite my determination to chill out and not obsess over it, I still kept jerking away as the nurse injected the pain killer. After about the third time I jerked in response to the needle prick, the nurse asked me if I’m always so slow to numb.

The mole was on my back and so I was lying on my side as the doctor removed the tissue. I tried to figure out what was going on by what I could hear and feel. The doctor kept pressing against my back - dabbing at blood, I figured. About that time I remembered, “OH yeah! I was supposed to stop taking my daily low-dose aspirin and vitamin E a few days ago so I wouldn’t bleed too much during the procedure.” Oops. I’d had to re-schedule the appointment, and so I had forgotten that part of the instructions. I figured there was no point in mentioning it since it obviously was too late to change anything. And everything seemed to be going just fine.

Before the procedure, as I was waiting, I picked up the only magazine in the room and thumbed through it. The magazine was More Magazine. I’d never heard of it before today. Towards the back of the magazine, there was an article on factors that are associated with a long life. There were the ones I’ve read about before - broad hips, Asian-Americans, good sleepers, first borns, believers, etc. However, they also had one that I had never heard before. People with lots of moles - 100 or more - generally live up to 7 years longer than their non-moley counterparts!!! Seriously!

People with a lot of moles While skin cancer remains a worry, researchers from King’s College in London say that people with more than 100 moles have longer (more protective) telomeres, chromosome-protecting buffers that delay aging and may extend longevity by up to seven years.

Who would’ve ever guessed?! Okay then - I’m set to live a long time - I sleep great, I have wide hips, and I definitely have 100+ moles.

I haven’t written anything on my blog for many weeks. I remember that for a couple years running I averaged writing 2-3 posts each day. All the topics I used to be so passionate about - politics, education, social issues - are no longer that important to me. Since I can’t really seem to stay on one topic for long, I will just write a series of disjointed thoughts and wonderings.

I can’t stand to watch the national news on TV. If Ron watches CNN or MSNBC, I generally will either leave the room or else tune it out by reading or working on the computer.

I looked at Lily today and I couldn’t even visualize what she looked like pre-leukemia. She felt good today, and we had a good time. However, she’s so terribly thin, her hair has started growing back, and it’s about an eight of an inch long all over. Most kids don’t lose their hair the first month of ALL treatment - but Lily did. Then most kids DO lose their hair within a couple weeks of starting the chemo phase she started several weeks ago, and she didn’t. She’ll likely lose it all again within the next few weeks, though. Then when she starts long term maintenance, it should start growing back for good.

School is out for the summer. A little over ten weeks of freedom. For the first time in memory, I have absolutely no plans for a vacation trip of any kind. No desire for a vacation either. I will spend time at home - trying to have a sort of rhythm to my days. I will spend some time visiting my mother. And I will spend time with my husband, children and grandchildren. I hope that in the summer of 2010, our little family - Ron, me, kids and grandkids - can go to the beach again for a week.

As the weeks and months have passed since Lily was diagnosed, I’ve come to understand that this has changed our family forever. Each of our lives have been impacted in ways we never imagined. The fear of cancer - of relapse - will never go away.

It’s a strange feeling - a combination of envy, anger, sadness and acceptance - when I see healthy children - children playing sports, children talking of going on family vacations, children with beautiful hair. Today I watched as Lily helped to administer antibiotics into her port. She pushed the syringe a little and then drew it back until she saw blood begin to flow (indicating it was working) and then pushed the rest of the solution into the port. An 8-year old who is comfortable - even eager to demonstrate her ability - with injecting medication into a port that’s been surgically installed under her skin with a line going into the veins around her heart. Incredible. Inspiring. Sad.

I wonder when the “buyer’s remorse” that is inevitable with our new president will begin to set in for the folks who thought he was the answer to all their woes. What a disaster of policies the man has made. The absolute blindness of so many in the MSM and on the left no longer amazes me. It’s just wrong.

Larisa and Steve are thinking about getting Rosie certified as a “companion dog.” It wouldn’t be a difficult process, and then Rosie could go with Lily to school, shopping - really anywhere Lily goes, Rosie could accompany her. In the ER the other night, I watched helplessly as Lily cried for Rosie and cried, “I want to go home.” It was heartbreaking. It was one of those times, I thought of all the millions of children asleep in their own home - healthy - who had no idea of what a blessing it is to sleep in one’s own bed.

I attended Sophie’s kindergarten graduation program. It wasn’t really a graduation - just a program for parents and grandparents on the last day of school. Sophie, the precocious and funny little sister who has had to grow up quickly the past few months. Sophie, the child that just cracks me up with her humor and remarks. Today, Ron was trying to get the mule to work. He finally got it to start running but when he shifted gears, it died again. He let out his anger - keeping it clean since the grandgirls were there. Sophie looked at him, “Papa, are you frustrated?” Yes, he was.

It is interesting to me how consumed I am with this whole leukemia business. I am obsessed with checking Lily’s Caringbridge site. I read every comment people leave. It doesn’t matter if I’ve been with Larisa, Steve, Sophie and Lily all day, if Larisa makes a new post on the CB site, I rush to read it immediately. I check the leukemia discussion boards numerous times every day.

I have an addictive/obsessive personality. It is fortunate that I’ve never much cared for the taste of alcohol or cigarettes. So my addictions go to other things instead. When Lily and Sophie spent the night with us a few months ago, they had some homemade gift soaps that someone had sent them. They loved the soaps - setting them out along the edge of the tub, and then spending more time selecting which soaps to use during their bath than the actual bath took. So I looked into how to make soap. With a “melt and pour” soap base, it is easy and fast. I ordered the supplies - lots of supplies. And since they arrived just yesterday, I’ve made four or five batches of soap - experimenting with different colors and scents. Then today the girls and I made three batches. So my obsession for now is making soap. This will probably last a few weeks, and then I’ll move onto a new obsession. Last summer I was obsessed with making jams.

I’m not an animal person. I’ve never enjoyed having pets. However, I have really enjoyed the two kittens that Terry and Sheila gave us last month. They are such a joy to watch. They get along well with Jake - they all seem to enjoy being together.

I had four moles removed from my body during spring break. “Removed” is a gentle word for what was done. Actually they were sliced off my body. All four were biopsied. Two were fine. One was “mildly abnormal,” and another was “moderately abnormal.” I had an appointment to have more tissue from around the moderately abnormal one removed this past Monday. However, as it turned out, Lily was in the hospital that day and I was needed to take care of Sophie. So I called to reschedule. The earliest appointment was over a month away. The doctor only does “surgery” on Mondays. I don’t want to wait that long. So I’m looking for a new dermatologist. I didn’t like the one I went to anyway. She looked like she was about 15 years old, and she didn’t inspire confidence at all. Of course my dentist is “Dr. Missy” - so I have other young doctors as well. I guess I’m getting to the age where just about all doctors are younger than me.

Speaking of Dr. Missy, I’m scheduled on Tuesday for her to do some complicated work on my front teeth. I don’t feel particularly confident about her either. I wanted to have “sedation dentistry” for the dental work on Tuesday, but with all the crap going on in our family, there is no one to go with me to drive me home. And Ron will be out of town. So I guess I’ll tell Dr. Missy to go heavy on the nitrous oxide instead. Then I think I’m such a wimp. If Lily can go through all the medical stuff she has to go through, then I can certainly get through a little dental work without making a fuss.

Speaking of my current obsession, I’ve been planning my next batch of soap. I’m going to blend some oatmeal into a powder, buy some almond oil, and then Ill make a batch of oatmeal/almond soap. I will peruse the grocery store the next time I go to see which herbs, spices and other ingredients I can find that I can use with soap. Don’t ask me what I plan to do with all this soap. I’ll use it, of course. . . . eventually. It will last a long time. Especially considering that after making those batches yesterday, I ordered more supplies.

One goal for the summer is to have more “rhythm” to our lives - a regular dinner, keeping up with chores around the house, going for a long walk each day. I just can’t handle working full time and then doing things at home in the evenings. So things around the house have fallen by the wayside over the school year. It’ll be nice to have a slower pace and a peaceful rhythm to our lives for awhile.

Today is Lily’s eighth birthday! My goodness, where has the time gone? I remember so well the day she was born. Early this morning, I drove over to her house and tied balloons to the mailbox, along with a card for her to find when she woke up. I started doing that a few years ago, and now the girls look for their balloons each year on their birthdays. They both love it.

Lily, the day she got her head shaved

Lily blowing out the candle on her birthday cupcake

Yesterday, on my way back to TN from visiting my mother in Georgia, I stopped at the pet adoption center in Murfreesboro where I met Lily and Sophie and Larisa. There they bought their new dog, Rosie, a chihuahua. Rosie will be Lily’s and Sophie’s dog - it’s the only thing Lily really wanted for her birthday. Rosie will be good for Lily. Since Lily has to spend so much time at home, she’ll be there to train Rosie and be with her. Rosie is full-grown, but she is small - about 9 pounds, I believe. Rosie will join her new canine siblings, Bogey and Maggie.

For her birthday gift from us, Ron and I got her a camera. A very nice camera, I might add. She has had a “children’s camera” before. However, this one isn’t one made for children. She’ll be able to take photos and edit them on her computer. She has a creative eye for photography, and it is a good hobby for her to develop while she is at home so much.

Lily has faced more challenges in the past few months than any of us could have imagined. She has handled the enormous curve ball of leukemia with grace, humor and kindness. I love her more than I could ever express.

Happy Birthday, my precious, precious Lily.

You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

~Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931 - 2005~

Today is Sunshine’s 6th birthday. Early this morning I tied a bouquet of balloons on their mailbox. Larisa said she was awakened by the sound of the alarm beep - indicating someone had opened an outside door. It was Sophie - heading out to get her balloon bouquet.

Sophie has such a unique personality. She is definitely her own person with a loving nature and a strong will. She is quite an athlete. She often makes multiple goals in her soccer games.

Sophie going ALL OUT playing soccer, Spring 2009

She’s an athlete, but she is also a girly-girl. She loves everything pink - and loves to have her nails painted. When she wants to be, she is the most dainty girl imaginable. WHEN she wants to be.

Sophie may be an all-out athlete, but she is also a girl girl!

So she has her athletic side, her girly-girl side, and she also has her tender and loving side. She is an expert cuddler, and has the sweetest smile in the world. Since her big sister, Lily, was diagnosed with lleukemia a few months ago, Sophie has shown maturity beyond her years in handling the challenges associated with Lily’s diagnosis. Her love for her sister is obvious to everyone.

Sophie shows her tender side by reading a book to Lily - soon after Lily was diagnosed with leukemia

Happy birthday, my precious Sophie.

Today is my mother’s birthday. My mother is a blogger - Ruthlace is a wonderful blog in which she writes often of growing up in the 1920’s and 1930’s. She writes about her experiences during the Great Depression and during World War II, her years as a young wife and mother, as a preacher’s wife, and the mother of seven children. I’ve learned so much from reading her blog.

I’ve written about my mother’s birthday on previous years. The first year I had this blog, I wrote a rather detailed post for her birthday. One year I wrote eighty-three things about my mother. I won’t give away her age, but this year I could have written eight-six things about her. Here are some photos from previous birthday posts:

This next photo is of my mother as a young woman.

And this next photo was taken a few years ago - my mother with my siblings and me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOTHER!p>

I just made a large pot of soup - and it turned out delicious! Yea! I just love it when I try something and it turns out so well. I had walked into my pantry earlier to look around to see what I felt like eating. I saw some cans of navy beans, and I thought of making soup, but I wanted something different than what I usually make. I thought of making a chicken and white bean soup - something I’ve never made before. I figured it shouldn’t be that hard to make, and it wasn’t. Here’s how I made it.

2 qts. chicken stock
2 cups cooked, boneless, skinless chopped chicken (mixture of white and dark meat)
1 cup shredded fresh carrots
1 large onion, chopped finely
3 stalks celery, chopped finely
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic salt
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
4 16-ounce cans navy beans
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach (thawed, rinsed, patted dry)
salt/pepper to taste

Cook the vegetables in the chicken stock until tender. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for about an hour. You can thicken the soup with a little flour, if desired. Serving suggestion: sprinkle grated cheese on top before serving. This makes a LARGE pot of soup. When I make soup, I almost always make a large pot. After Ron and I ate soup for lunch, I put away SEVEN small containers of soup for later - three in the refrigerator for meals this week, and four in the freezer for later.

YUMMY! And very healthy - virtually nonfat, lots of veggies, high fiber.