Endings and beginnings

This has been a week for endings and beginnings and one that's a lot of both. Last weekend, a bit after I'd posted the entry for the week, I found out through Facebook that my Uncle Bill was very, very ill. We'd known for some time that he wasn't in the best of health, dealing with lung cancer, but last weekend, I found out that he was in the last days of stage four.

I posted this: Prayers going out to my Auntie Laurie, who is going through a really tough time due to Uncle Bill's illness (last days of stage 4 lung cancer). I don't know how she finds the strength to handle this. She is a tough, tough lady, and so classy. Her life hasn't always been easy, but she's always managed to deal with what's been thrown at her in a way that showed so much grace and fortitude. She is absolutely amazing.

She thanked me for the sentiments, but honestly, she is one of the most amazing women I have ever been lucky enough to know. She and Bill were married 21 years, and his company, Thistle Construction, will now close after 31 years. Sad that they have no more time together on earth, but they had an amazingly long marriage for all that. I can only hope mine with Quentin is as long and happy.

And for the other news that is mixed, we found out the other day that Quentin's dad is in hospital. He weighs 400 pounds and his birthday was yesterday (Saturday), making him 71 or 72. Apparently, the men in his family don't generally live much past their mid-70s, so it's everybody is expecting Ronald to kick the bucket any day now. Especially with why he's in hospital now. Ronald is a cantankerous old fart and disallows a lot of the care he should be getting and they can't force him to accept it in-home - now that he's in hospital, it's a lot different. He has, at the LEAST, gangrene in both legs quite badly, nerve damage where he can't apparently feel anything or much of anything, and (this is what grosses me out) MAGGOTS in the wounds. The nurse that Quentin talked to said there were so many of the little pests in the wounds that they aren't sure if there are hundreds or thousands of them. It's just that bad. It is possible that Ronald may have to have double amputation of his legs clear up to the hips from this, but we don't know for sure yet. He's getting MASSIVE doses of antibiotics to try to clear up the infection so the doctors can see just how bad it all is and go from there. We've all been told not to expect him to last more than another year though, with as bad as it is. (Plus he smokes like a fricking chimney, possibly has untreated diabetes which he hasn't ever let himself get tested for, and goodness only knows what all going on. You can imagine how upsetting this all is. Argh.)

The beginning that I mentioned is a good one. The beginning of the end of Quentin's rehire wait period. Just over three months left and he can apply for rehire. Thank goodness for that, because he is going nuts. He's gained a little weight (not a lot, only a couple of inches around the waistline really) and he's bored. The weight gain is from being a lot more sedentary than he usually is, and mindlessly eating tater chips all the time while he watches TV. He's so bored, he is pretty much literally counting the days till he can rehire. We've already planned that since he's eligible on a Thursday, the next day, we'll come here to McQuack's and do his application over a splurge on crappy fast food (heehee), or do it at home after I have dinner, depending on if DishNet is at our place by then or not. They're closer than they were, but it takes them a while to get even a few miles of repeater going around here. Wouldn't be so long to get it going other than all the mountains in the way of the satellite repeater signals, lol!

So with that said, I'm going to get busy adding the freebie books for the week. If I have time today, I'll add other books, and some gadgets and who knows what all I'll find. I do like the idea of the astore, but honestly, it's a pain in the butt to change things around there (as in you can't move something from one category to another, and adding categories is a bit problematic when you don't get it right the first time). Thank goodness for all the links I'm putting in here, lol ... when I get the website running, I'll be able to just edit these posts, grab the links and paste them THERE. Save me some time, right? (Maybe ... lol.) Till next time - hugs and happy homesteading!

NEW FREE KINDLE BOOKS FOR THE WEEK