4th of July weekend!!

Was a different weekend for sure. After burying Baby, the kitty, I wasn't in much of a mood to celebrate a birthday but as with everything, time moves on...Bob did go into town and get us McDonald's for supper that night. I was a mess and knew if I went to town with my red eyes and nose from crying I would probably run into someone I know and I just wasn't ready to do that. I wonder now if her Momma had brought her up to the house to see if we could help Baby. Maybe she had tried everything she knew and was trying to help Baby the only way she knew how. I'll never know but that's what I've wondered.
Birthday day started out quiet. I slept in until 8:30 then about 10 the family began calling to wish me a happy birthday. I had celebrated the weekend before and then Thurs. I met Mom, Dad and Kay for lunch. Between the two days I already had my presents:
Alicia got me a 'sisters' candle, a 3 book series and a huge glass mug with Jeff Gordon 24 on it filled with beef jerky.
Kay got me 3 pairs of sandals...(she's the sis that can never decide LOL) and a book.
Mom and Dad got me a Red, White and Blue stars shirts and a Jeff Gordon wind chime that I hung on my back porch.
My kids had gotten me cards, kisses and hugs and kisses and hugs from grand kids. The kisses and hugs from grand kids are priceless!!
Talked to Amanda and Tom about a cookout on sat. so Bob and I went to town late Friday afternoon (I didn't even get out of my pajama's until 2pm!! LOL) and got some fixings for b-b-q chicken, corn of the cob, potatoes, watermelon and chips. Amanda was going to make dessert and a pasta salad.
At 10pm the phone rang, it was Amanda but I couldn't understand what she was saying. The heart-stopping, brain numbing fear that grips you when you hear your own child in a full-out panic can't be described!! She finally slowed down enough for me to understand that Jack had had a seizure and an ambulance was on the way. I didn't ask a lot of particulars, I just said we would meet them at the hospital. They had been at Tom's Mom's (Juanita) house to watch fireworks which is out by the reservoir. Bob and I were out the door, he drove, mainly because he was afraid for me to drive, it seemed he was driving in slow motion. Nothing would have been fast enough to get me to the hospital. It was just getting dark as we drove west into town and we could see the various firework displays across the horizon of town.
I don't want to offend any readers but, you see, God and I have been having an on-going difference of opinion lately. He wants things His way and I want to know why. Sometimes He tells me but most times He don't. So I didn't think I needed to tell Him how bad I wanted Jack taken care of because I figure He knew. But I told Him anyway. That's just the kind of relationship I have with Him, untraditional.
10:10pm - On the way to town I saw I had missed a call from Kay earlier so I called her back and told her what was going on and asked her to call Mom and Dad. I promised to let her know what was going on and we hung up. 10:20pm - Amanda called back and the ambulance was just leaving Juanita's house. She told me that for 2-3 minutes Jack had been convulsing. When the convulsions stopped his eyes were still rolled back in his head and he felt like he was on fire and he sweat so much that his clothes were soaked like he had been swimming. When they got him in the ambulance he seemed to come to and started fighting the EMT's and yelling no so she knew he was conscience. Tom rode in the ambulance with Jack. Amanda and Juanita rode with an in-law following them in a van. I hung up from her and called Mom and Dad's house to let them know what I had found out so far but no one answered the house phone. I called Mom's cell and they were already at Riggin Road (halfway to hospital!). I thanked God for cell phones and supportive parents. We beat the ambulance to the hospital.
When I first saw Jack he was curled up, almost in a fetal position, on this huge hospital bed looking so tired. He was yawning a lot and his cheeks were fire red. His whole body was shaking, I suppose from shock, but when he saw us he perked up a little bit and said "Mawmaw, Pawpaw" it was music to my ears and I had to fight more tears. I hugged Tom as he let me around him to give Jack a small squeeze, then gave Amanda a hug and a couple Kleenex.
There was a lot of waiting around, of course, and he needed a new diaper but the hospital wasn't getting one very fast so me and Bob ran over to Walgreen's to get some and some wipes. We also picked up some fruit bars and Pawpaw grabbed a little Spiderman truck to keep Jack occupied. The truck was the hit of the night! After tests and a few hours of waiting to hear results they said the seizure was caused by a spike in fever, even though Amanda and Juanita both said they had just checked him for fever because he had said he was cold.The only thing they said to do was alternate between Tylenol and Motrin every 2 hours. It just didn't seem right that they had just checked him and less than 30 seconds later he's having a seizure! She is going to call his regular Dr. today to have him looked at so here I sit....wondering.....waiting...and I'm not good with either one of those things!!! We got home and to bed around 4am
Saturday was much calmer. We had a lazy start since we were up late. I put food out for the cats outside and messed around the house for a while then I went outside, determined to win over some of the kitties. The peacock is shedding his tail feathers and the rest of the kittens play with the ones that fall out. So, I grabbed one of the feathers and was out in the woodshed playing with them. They are pretty skittish around us humans and I am hoping that if I play with them, they will get used to me and we can get them to come up to eat when called. Of course, cats have a mind of their own...but I was able to get 4 of them to play with me :) Bob mowed around the house (It has been too wet to mow for 3 days!)and I prepared food for the cookout while we waited for Amanda, Tom and the kids arrived. We had plenty of food despite Amanda not getting stuff made the night before and no one went away hungry. We had to put one package of drumsticks in the freezer, we had so much. The best thing was Jack ate good, which he hadn't been. He had 2 drumsticks, 2 helpings of Mac & cheese, potatoes and corn of the cob.
Sunday was even calmer, Bob finished the yard and then messed with the tractor. We sold it to a guy from the next own over and he was going to pick it up this week so Bob wanted to get a few things done on it. I spent the day in the basement doing laundry and going through box after box of books. Our yearly family rummage sale is next weekend so I had to get some things done. I had...ahem have... a habit of saving the ones I really, really liked and would re-read them from time to time but it's time they go. It was like visiting with old friends but it's time to let them go to bring memories others. I ended up with 11 boxes of books to sell. I probably won't sell them all but any I do will help and those that don't we can donate to nursing homes or take to the lady that runs our small town video store. She puts them out to sell and all money goes to cancer research.
Well, it's about time for my lunch. I will add more later if I hear anything from Amanda on Jack.
Take care.....until next post

EDIT 4:30 - I just heard from Amanda and Jack has Strep Throat!! I can't believe the hospital didn't see this knowing his white blood count was double!! grrrrrr. So we have all been exposed!! Poor little fella!! The Dr. was trying not to upset him, I suppose, because he didn't really take a good look into his throat, now I wish he had so we could have 2 days of antibiotics in him!!

Ok, I saw this story on the This Day in History and wanted to add it too. My husband's Grandfather and Grandmother went west to work on this project. Harold worked on the Dam and Eloise worked on the cooking, as did most wives that were there. She wrote a journal about her life before she passed away and it was completely fascinating!!


This Day In History:

July 7, 1930

Building of Hoover Dam begins

On this day in 1930, construction of the Hoover Dam begins. Over the next five years, a total of 21,000 men would work ceaselessly to produce what would be the largest dam of its time, as well as one of the largest man-made structures in the world.

Although the dam would take only five years to build, its construction was nearly 30 years in the making. Arthur Powell Davis, an engineer from the Bureau of Reclamation, originally had his vision for the Hoover Dam back in 1902, and his engineering report on the topic became the guiding document when plans were finally made to begin the dam in 1922.

Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States and a committed conservationist, played a crucial role in making Davis’ vision a reality. As secretary of commerce in 1921, Hoover devoted himself to the erection of a high dam in Boulder Canyon, Colorado. The dam would provide essential flood control, which would prevent damage to downstream farming communities that suffered each year when snow from the Rocky Mountains melted and joined the Colorado River. Further, the dam would allow the expansion of irrigated farming in the desert, and would provide a dependable supply of water for Los Angeles and other southern California communities.

Even with Hoover's exuberant backing and a regional consensus around the need to build the dam, Congressional approval and individual state cooperation were slow in coming. For many years, water rights had been a source of contention among the western states that had claims on the Colorado River. To address this issue, Hoover negotiated the Colorado River Compact, which broke the river basin into two regions with the water divided between them. Hoover then had to introduce and re-introduce the bill to build the dam several times over the next few years before the House and Senate finally approved the bill in 1928.

In 1929, Hoover, now president, signed the Colorado River Compact into law, claiming it was "the most extensive action ever taken by a group of states under the provisions of the Constitution permitting compacts between states."

Once preparations were made, the Hoover Dam's construction sprinted forward: The contractors finished their work two years ahead of schedule and millions of dollars under budget. Today, the Hoover Dam is the second highest dam in the country and the 18th highest in the world. It generates enough energy each year to serve over a million people, and stands, in Hoover Dam artist Oskar Hansen's words, as "a monument to collective genius exerting itself in community efforts around a common need or ideal."

Have a great evening all!!