Camp Yemma

Welcome to Camp Yemma!!

We have a swimming pool to swim in, cats to chase, cat food to eat, and games and crafts.

• Nala Yemma's first week at Camp Yemma:
  

On arrival 9:15pm 7/15/10 Nala immediately went to the cat food dish and then outside for a swim. She then terrorized the Sissy. All 7.7lbs of Littlegirl was not the least bit afraid. Lights out at 11pm.

Day 2/ Rise and shine 5:45am (not the camp leaders idea). Well, we where told Nala would need alittle cuddling time before heading downstairs for breakfast. We were told wrong!!! All that she wanted was to go potty, eat, try to eat cat food, then into the pool. Swim time started around 6:10am. Nala proceeded to be entertained by one of the camp leaders (who happens to be her grandfather) all day. Oh, almost forgot, morning activites included First Aid/ parenting classes. Nala learned our to give a somewhat bed bath. Although Littlegirl was laying on Pat's (one of the camp leaders) chest, we will count it as a bedbath. For the privacy of the patient, we did not take any pictures of the actual bath. Nala learned to lick her clean and nibbling of the ears. Nala will receive a merit badge for First Aid.

Before lights out Nala played find the last drop of ice cream in the container. As you can see, she succeeded at that task.

Nighty, Night. Lights out.

Shingles part 2

Shingles have really kicked my butt. I think I got some lesions in my throat. I've had a sore throat for 8 days and a cough for 3. These last 4 1/2 weeks have really been rough. Friday night I slept for 6hrs in a row without waking once, that was the first time in 5wks. When I get better I'm going to sleep for a week.
My left eye is getting back some movement. It's almost blinking with the other eye!! The blisters in my ear have scabbed over. I hope never to get Shingles again.
I have been sick the whole time Lisa has been home. I'll get better just before she leaves.

A walk around the Lake

Pat, Lisa , and I went to Greenfield Lake today for a 4 mile walk. It was hot and humid, and we saw lots of wildlife. We saw 2 alligators, as you can see. Turtles, ducks, and squirrels everyway. The gator you see saw us from the bridge and came swimming over to see if we had anything for him to eat. Gators are really cool the way they swim. Just his tail moved back and forth; his legs never moved. I'm really not sure if it was male or female. Lisa runs around the lake several times a week and has seen 3 gators together. I'm sure there are plenty more.

shingles

Here I sit watching TV with my one blinking eye. So, my left eye won't blink. It's just a little side effect of the Shingles. I spent the last 2 weeks complaining of ear pain, which I thought was from water in my left ear that has a tube. But, long story short after a ct-scan and a MRI, I have shingles on my left ear. This won't be so bad, but the left side of my face has been temporarily paralysed. (I hope it's not for ever). I have to manually close my eye to keep it moist. Oh yeah, my lips not work either. I was drinking an iced hot chocolate ( by the way, not so good) and it dripped out of my mouth on to my shorts. Really attractive!!
I'm on Valtrex for the Shingle, prednisone for whatever. I can't go to work until all the blisters have popped and crusted over, just like Chicken Pox. I'm contagious to anyone who has not had Chicken Pox and children under 1 year.
My class reunion is in 25 days. If my mouth and eye aren't working, I'm not going... I'm not going to be wearing a bid and an eye patch. Well, maybe I could if got some material to match my outfit. Rhinestones go with any outfit, what do you think.

Weekend at the Mamma Jane's

Mary, Kyle, and Nala, the yellow lab, came to Wilmington for the weekend. They arrived Friday morning and spent the day with Pat and Lisa. I, of course, had to work all day. The got seafood for dinner, shrimp, tuna steaks, and scallops. Nala loves the water. She spent as much time in the pool. We went to the beach Saturday morning. Nala was funny. She'd jump into the water after her tennis ball and ride the wave back to shore. We came back home to swim in the pool, Then off to Costco to shop and eat lunch, greasy pizza and ice coffee latte freeze. My stomach was not too happy with my choice. We all went to a Pig Picking with Pat's work. Of course, yesterday was the hottest June 7th on record. So, it wasn't too great for a picnic. I stayed inside as much as possible.
This morning we were back in the pool again. The pool water temp is 87 degrees, not all the great.
Mary, Kyle, and Nala left after lunch. I had planned on running to Belks, but much too hot to even go. I did try to weed, but no way.

Fun in the Sun, is not so much fun, Just ask Pat

I don't have any pictures to saw you, because Pat wouldn't let me take any of him. Spending time in the sun most of our life has taken its toil on our skin. Pat and I have had several areas of skin cancer. Pat's latest episode of cancer was on his nose. He had to go to Cary,NC (town next to Raleigh) to have the cancer removed. The doctor did "Mohs" procedure. That is where the doctor removes small layers at a time, checks under a microscope, then removes more tissue until it is cancer free. The surgeon then did a skin transplant to cover the hole in his nose. The skin was flapped over from the skin on the nose.
On the other side of his nose he applied "Aldara" cream, which kills the abnormal tissue. The tissue on the nose turns bright red, than turns black. Pat has been embarrassed about his appearance.
So, now we have to cover up with sunscreen, long sleeves, and hats so we don't get anymore sun exposure.
Oh yeah, we get to go the Dermatologist every 3-6mo for a complete body check. I don't know about Pat, but I surely don't enjoy being nake in front of the doctor and his nurse. Oh yeah, they give me a stamp size paper sheet to cover my body.

So, morale of this story is to protect yourself while in the sun. As kids we didn't have the advantage of sun screen.

Puppysitting

Mary and Kyle went to Bermuda for 5 days and entrusted Pat and I with Nala, their yellow lab. Pat took 2 days of vacation, and I had Friday off. We could not keep Nala out ot the pool. After she jumped in, she wanted to come right back in the house. Of course she was all wet. When we stopped throwing her toy in the pool for her to retrieve, she'd throw her own toy in and jump in. We'd get her dried off and back in again.
The girls, Sissy and Roxie (the cats) weren't too happy with us. Sissy spend 23hours under the bed. Roxie actually let Nala lick her, and she licked Nala back.
We didn't get much sleep on our Memorial Day Vaction weekend. Nala is up bright and early for breakfast. She'd wake up and put her head on the bed right next to our head and wait for us to wake up.
She loved her walks. She wanted to catch a rabbit so badly, but she never did. We enjoyed having Nala, and we didn't spoil her as Kyle was afraid of.