Hi everyone.  We are up early this morning as Pat scheduled and 8:30 doctor's appointment and it takes us around 30 minutes to get there and since this will be during rush hour we will allow an additional 15 minutes for the drive.  This is a followup from her appointment last Friday.  Later this morning the housekeeper will be here but we should be back before she gets here.  Nothing else on the schedule for today.  It is 48 degrees here this morning but will get to 75 degrees this afternoon, quite a bit warmer than yesterday.

deAngel and Patricia, I don't think I would want a cat around my shoulders but guess they would be warm on the neck.  I didn't know all the benefits of owning a cat.  We had a cat for 12-14 years but won't have another one due to the demands of caring for them.
Our son has both a cat and a dog and loves both dearly.  They have been a big comfort to him since his wife died as they always greet him when he comes back from work or being away from his house.

Good afternoon Kelly. 

Good Morning to you again Larry

Just left the same message in Soda Shoppe for you.

kelly

We almost had a catastrophe last night when I could not find my camera.  Tom remembered bringing it into the house from his car..  We both looked in the car and the house but could not find it.  This morning I was getting the trash ready to go out and I saw the case in with some computer things.   Big relief.  It is not an expensive camera and there aren’t any prized pictures on it so I was prepared to get another similar one, but now I won’t have to.

My right leg is bothering me and I am going to have an ultrasound on it next week.  It aches above the knee sometimes, other times below the knee and sometimes the entire leg.  My laptop on it doesn’t help, so I write as little as possible.

We have a beautiful day started with 70 degrees so far.

Mary Ann

Hi Mary Ann
I use my laptop on top of the kitchen table, easier than my knee.

Kelly

Well, exactly, Kelly!

I cannot handle having my iPad, let alone a laptop, on my lap.  I have pillows on hand around my easy chair at all times, and 3 small pillows pile on my lap and THEN the iPad or book or magazine.  Brings those items up nearer my face AND keeps them from causing me discomfort.

POURING down rain here.  Just as gloomy a day as you can imagine.

Mary Ann, your description of your right leg describes the problem with my left leg.  It seems once I start walking the pain goes away.  Just getting old I guess. 

Good morning from a cloudy Interior, weather gurus say it will be either partly cloudy or partly sunny, (See the pattern developing?  ); until the fourteenth but it will continue to develop warmer temperatures.

That cat is still hiding under the bed but is sneaking around at night. Twice I have woke up to her sleeping on the bed and if you talk to her while she believes she is safe under the bed, she has purred a time or two. Then shuts off the purring as if surprised and apprehensive she had the response!

Larry, the cats that enjoy lying around an owner's shoulders, do so as a type of hug. Not everyone likes that sort of feline closeness. With Gloria, myself and probably your son, animals are someone that loves us and gives us companionship at our best and at our worst. I have seen both dogs, cats and even once a parrot that tried to comfort an ailing or sad owner.

I dread a day coming that I will no longer be able to care for a pet and hope I would know a love and kindness to that pet and to allow someone else to do so for me if it came to that.

MaryAnn, I hope the doctor and the ultrasound will help with your leg and  could some of the pain be sympathy pains from the original? I will be thinking of you and be hoping it will be something that is easily fixed.

Hello to Kelly or Hoi bhoy!

Here's wishing all here have sunny days and healthy weeks ahead!

Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts about my leg.  Kelly, a table is too high for me to type comfortably.  I may resort to MaryPage's solution - a pillow under the laptop.  Patricia, I'm not sure what you mean about sympathy pains from the original - what original? 

Tom brought me some broccoli cheese soup from Panera today (also yesterday) and I had it for lunch.  Delicious.

Mary Ann

Well,my[pst didn't post.  Anyway what I said was that Dan brought me a lovely bouquet of flowers for Mothers Day.  He posted it on Facebook for me so all could see.  I do not see well enough to do that anymore.  Sorry.

Talking cats.  Awful thing happened this morning. I happen to look out the window about 7:30am. Saw a man slowing down his truck on Frontage road and then saw some animal in my front yard. Looked dead.  He said a car on the other side hit it and it went flying up right over into my yard. He stopped and came over. Poor thing. Looks like back legs crushed and was dragging itself. I gave him a towel and a big plastic bag. Tried biting us but did get it wrapped and into the bag. Asked him to take it over to the Humane Society just about a mile away.  I hate people who h it any animal and not stop to see about it.

Now I think that the General Discussion Forum she still be used.  I can see see things that would fit in there. Few things that don't fit in the others.

MaryAnn, in your first post you said: "It aches above the knee sometimes, other times below the knee and sometimes the entire leg."

Back in February 2014, I fell hard on a patch of black ice and damaged both knees so that they hurt continually from arthritis. I will also sometimes have pains from just above in my lower thighs and sometimes in my shins. Those ache from the way I accommodate the pain from the original, my knees.

Jeanne, I don't understand re General Disscussion Forum? This is a conversational board between online friends. What should be removed?

The poor little eagles look like they are soaking wet again.  Must be raining hard there.

The ducks near where I live are still there!


Kelly

Sandy Dapph, did you HEAR the evening news?

They told what the most popular names for new baby boys and girls were for 2015, and mine is in there.  This is so very disappointing to me for two reasons:  one, I think little girls should have a good chance of being the ONLY one in their class with their name and two, I hate fiercely being part of a fad. 

Here, in case you missed it, are the top five:

1. Emma
2. Olivia
3. Sophia
4. Ava
5. Isabella

I also have a great granddaughter named Emma.  My Emma has that rare quality called "It!"  Of my 26 great grandchildren, 13 are girls and 13 are boys.  Two of the girls have "It," in abundance.  Emma and Leah.  They tickle everyone with their intelligence and zest for life.  Emma will be four in July, while Leah was twelve in December.

Long ago, when Brandon, Brendon and various forms of Chelsea or Chelsia abounded, my sister named her two Brandon and Chelsey. Now there are five or six with their names anywhere they go.

I remember there always being a number of Patricia s anywhere I went until I graduated college.

When my daughter was in school, her teachers invariably called her Maria which upset her because her name was Marie. She would explain that and all would be well for a day or two until they went back to the wrong name. Why would a red headed, green eyed child be called Maria? She tried going by her middle name of Gabrielle and then people called her Gabriel which is the masculine version. A name is important and especially to a child or teenager.

I could not agree with you more, Patricia.  A child's name is their most important possession, and the first gift given them by their parents.  I think parents should seriously consider what it will be like for their child to hear their name called out in class day after day.

When my daughter was nine,(1981); we managed some apartments in Anchorage, Alaska. Some of the children that she played with were called Sunshine, Rainbow and Leaf, the latter being their brother.

I have a friend named Rain who I never asked what her full name was. Another friend, Monica, full name is Harmonica. Three children whose father operated a Christmas store named his children, Happy Noel and Merry Christmas. They now go by Mary and Christine legally.

Edit: I don't remember their brother's name, only that it also was Christmas related and also legally changed as an adult.

I Named my daughter "Erin Olivia" 38 years ago...

Now "Ophelia"  is my new Great Grand Daughter name
     ( only 975 th on the list of popular names)

Sandy

I'm happy I was born in an age when parents did not make up names for their children.  We had Jim, Louise, Gladys, Maynard, Doris, Mildred, Hazen (Jr), Lyle, Claude, Kathryn, Reathel (named for a good friend of her mother), Berwyn, Barbara, Patricia, Norman and Mary Ann.  I understand many parents named their girls Mary Something, but I was the only Mary Ann and I was named for a grandmother, great-grandmother and great aunt.

So many of the made up names of today are unpronounceable.

We've had a very nice day today and at 9:20 p it is 62 degrees.  I can live with that.

Mary Ann

My maternal grandmother's name was Mary Catherine.  I loved her name and I was going to be named after her.  I got the "Mary" but at the last minute, my mother decided I should be named after her also.  So I got stuck with Mildred as a middle name and I have always hated that name .

My paternal grandmother's name was Zena.  My younger sister is Nancy but Nancy Zena didn't sound right so she was named Nancy Zene.

Mary

I have a friend whose great-granddaughter is named "Citizen",  and they are calling her "Citi".   

Joy

My older sister and I were also named after our grandmothers. She was named after our paternal Grandmother, Josephine Belle which she has always hated. I was better off being named after my maternal Grandmother and an aunt.

Our youngest sister, a surprise 10 years after me, was named for a paternal aunt

A lot of names now are like Jason, Storm and even more modern names!

Kelly

Forgetting my manners!

Good morning everyone

Have a great day.

Kelly

Hi everyone.  It is another beautiful day and it is headed to a sunny 83 degrees.  I have been out already this morning as went down to the cafe where I have coffee and got a Western omelet for breakfast for us.  Pat really likes the butter biscuits that are included and it also comes with grits.  We split the omelet and I got the bowl of grits and she had the biscuit.  I plan on trying to get to COSTCO later this morning for a couple of things and to get the car filled with gas.  Nothing else on the schedule for today.

Mary Ann, do you use a padded computer lap table with your laptop?  Pat and I both use one and it helps a lot.  If you use a pillow be sure it is firm and has a hard surface.  Years ago I put my laptop on a motel pillow and it quit working.  It turned out to be overhearing that had caused it to shut down. 

MaryPage and Patricia, two of our great grandchildren have rather unusual names.  The oldest is named Cobra and the youngest is named Hawk.  We also have a friend whose name is Snow.

A new trivia quiz has been posted.

http://www.seniorsandfriends.org/index.php?topic=95.msg14941#msg14941

Good Morning from either a partly cloudy or a partly sunny Interior!

Well, my new cat has finally been making forays out of the bedroom and while she still runs for under the bed at loud or sudden noises or quick, sudden moves from me, she is becoming more confident. While Sarah was aggressive in her fear, this one is terrified and I wish I knew why. Sarah grew out of her fear in about a week and I believe this one will take longer with some parts lingering.

She has been sleeping on the bed when she believes me to be asleep but is gone when I awake.

Both cats had been living outdoors for some time when they were humanely trapped and rescued. Sarah had no interest in the sound of a can opener and this one understands the sound means possible food.

Sarah was an older, (8 years or more); while this one from her tag was born 9/2012. Sarah was a small, sized gray cat, with very long hair and a triangular face and long limbs. This one is a cream tabby with gray stripes and cream outlines around both eyes, looking as if she used eyeliner.

Her head shape is what  used to be called "apple head." Her body is shorthaired and stocky but she is underweight  similar to Sarah. Sarah wasn't that interested in food and I'm not sure about this one.

They called this cat Lucy, but in my opinion, it's not a fitting name for her. However, she hasn't been around me enough for any ideas.

MaryAnn.  Seems like back in my grandmothers, Mother time Mary was always a part of a girls name. In my family it was. lots of MaryAnn, Mary Ellen, Mary Jane. Went on and on. Always used together. Seemed to change then in my days. You just got one name. No middle name. Common to use your mothers maiden name or none at all.

JeanneP, if I couldn't have my grandmother's Mary Catherine, I would have preferred my mother's maiden name which was "McGeary".

My brother-in-law had his mother's maiden name as his middle name and two of his sons have that name also. 

My son's name came out of the blue .  My husband and I couldn't agree (one of many disagreements in 10 years ) on a name so on the way to the hospital, I mentioned "Jeffrey Allen".  He said fine .  There was never a Jeffrey or Allen on either side of the family so he's a first!

Mary