About a month ago I was asked to play lead guitar with a couple of friends along Route 80 at Emlenton, Pennsylvania. My two friends are Donnie Clark and Ted Duncan. I accepted and, as always, I enjoy seeing the Allegheny River at what might be called a normal flow.
Unfortunately, Donnie who has had cancer issues for quite some time now took a turn for the worse very recently and is on hospice. (Update: Donnie Clark passed away October 22, 2025) Sad news. His voice that day was not the singer he used to be. I sensed something was amiss. This evening, October 20, I heard of another great friend suffering with a serious issue of kidney cancer. His name is Kip Feroce. He makes exceptional box calls for turkey hunting. More sad news!
On this July 4th, Day of Independence, an update of my 94-year-old, mother’s three-week health ordeal seemed appropriate. Many ask! On my last entry, I recorded a few facts of her stroke from June 13. Well, yesterday July 3, we brought her back to her home. The weeks of rehab worked wonders. She is not out of the woods yet, so to speak. It was discovered her blood platelets were close to 900,000. To compare, the high end of the normal range is 400,000. Through the chemo meds she recently began they were down to the 600,000 range as per Tuesday.
Overall, she has improved tremendously. However, the light dementia issues she had prior to the stroke will not be cured by any meds. She is allowed to walk with a walker or assistance for now, mainly as a precautionary measure. Her memory from years ago is amazing.
So, the only question now is to wonder what is next.
Last Wednesday evening. June 12, my sister called. She arrived home around 9:15 to find my mother on the kitchen floor in an awkward position and nonresponsive. She asked for me to come out and try to pick her up. I said I would be out but call 911 immediately. Interestingly, my mother called me around 8:45 or so.
The ambulance got to her home just a few minutes after I arrived. She was taken to the hospital where it was determined she had had a bad stroke. She couldn’t move her limbs or speak at all. She didn’t recognize myself and my sister. A specialist came on a screen, and it was decided to offer her special stroke medicine. This medicine had to be administered within four hours and by this time three hours had elapsed.
The nurse would continually request her to smile and raise her arms and legs. Prior to two in the morning, we were seeing positive results. She was transferred to Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, Pennsylvania.
Every visit would see improvements, but her speaking was sometimes slurred a bit, but overall, we could understand maybe seventy-five percent of her speech.
It was very difficult for me to see my mother in these conditions. However, I realize at 94 and a half years of age anything could happen. She was to be transferred to a rehab unit.
As I was typing this entry, (June 18) the phone rang and Forbes said her therapy went very well and a transfer to Allegheny Valley Hospital in Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania or locally here in Kittanning were possibilities. Insurance and authorization issues always are a problem to deal with.
Hopefully, sometime today, my mother will be transferred to either of these faculties where friends and family can be more readily available to visit.
UPDATE: Mom, as of this afternoon, went to Allegheny Valley Hospital to begin rehab.
Sometime around summer of 2023, I noticed a hardened lump in the palm of my hand near the base of my pointer finger. The lump quickly became the size of a pea. Reaching for a doorknob, steering wheel and even playing the guitar produced a pain. The cyst seemed to still be pushing, thus the pain. What should I do, became a common thought. The wife told me to have it checked out. That happened on March 3rd.
I decided to see a surgeon and discuss. He believed the lump was a ganglion cyst and a date of March 13th was decided on to do the “cut.” However, they were going to put me under to do the work. I insisted on having the operation under a local and “won out” over the other alternative.
The injection did produce an initial pain, but I never felt the scalpel do the deed. I requested to see the cyst and all that was left was a sack-like tissue, for the jell within leaked out. Surgeon said the hard feeling was due to pressure.
This morning of the 14th has the operation producing pain. The numbness was still an issue when I went to bed. I am not sure how many stitches are at the site. The taped bandage is something new, but it is still holding. A slight swelling is present. I will have the stitches removed in a couple of weeks.
The last couple of hikes allowed from interesting sights to behold in the natural world. Hints of autumn are everywhere. Mornings are cooler, flannel-shirt weather, however, once the sun gains sime height the coolness quickly becomes very warm.
Katydid.
Baby Snapping Turtle with eggshells.
While moving along I spotted disturbed ground. A hole with a diameter of about six inches was observed, as well. I soon spotted what the hole was, and a Snapping Turtle had laid her eggs in the dirt. Eggshells were scattered about, and I believe this nest was disturbed supplying a food source from some predator. However, one eggshell had a baby Snapper within, and I saw the little one was alive. I truly hope this baby turtle has the will to survive.
Laurie and I were arriving home on July 12 around five when I noticed something was amiss. The huge Black Oak tree living on the front yard was down! The driveway was completely covered with the tree, so I had to come in from the road onto the yard.
After the initial shock wore off I gathered my little chain saw and began to clear a way to get to teh garage. This was a big job, and I completed this task in the following morning with a charged battery for the saw.
We were extremely fortunate with no part of the tree hitting the house and deck. The satellite dish was missed, also. My rail fence across the drive had one post knocked off level but no breakage. I do have various damages that will need replaced, but the fact of nothing major sure is a great thought.
I called the insurance company and a couple of tree crews and settled on one outfit. It took three days for the oak to be removed and cleanup.
Interestingly, I counted the rings the best I could and came up with 158 to 160 growth rings. This tree’s growth began around 1863 or so at the time of the Civil War! Once the stump was cut close to ground level I measured the base at six feet- four inches.
I always liked the old tree and will miss the shade it provided. Acorns were forming on the limbs. The tree man said he could evidence of a disease around the roots. This was what caused the decay at base level. The rest of the tree was sound solid wood.
To begin with this story, I feel the need to add some details prior to the explanation of my bout with covid. I have had asthma all of my life although I was not diagnosed until the 1980 time period. I usually keep the illness managed well enough to function somewhat. Also, I have dealings with vertigo, although the extreme is, thankfully, uncommon. I say that because I have had dizziness sensations much of my life. For example, if my dad would drive too fast over a certain bump at Brick Church, Pennsylvania, I would feel dizziness and nausea. Some spinning amusement rides would make me sick. My first vertigo attack was in 2013. That event was a terrifying one for me. I thought I was having a stroke. Today they are very uncommon for I have learned to do an exercise to keep those crystals in my inner ear in place.
Sunday afternoon of July 31, I felt a vertigo experience happening. I expressed either verbally or in my thoughts the words, “OH NO!” Immediately it stopped, but I was concerned. The rest of evening I felt slightly dizzy at times with a subtle headache.
The following day I was having the asthma common two-syllable, cough. No biggie for I cough like this every day, so I wasn’t too concerned. However, on Tuesday the coughs were more prevalent. I played guitar at a church on Tuesday evening and noticed the inhaler wasn’t working well.
Tuesday, I mowed my yard and the neighbors and didn’t feel anything too bad.
Tuesday night I started harder coughing and slept very little. On the very early morning of Wednesday the 3rd, I began choking until I vomited up phlegm. I felt better afterwards but was exhausted. I remained in bed all day except bathroom breaks. I didn’t eat anything until I had awakened at 7:45 PM. The coughing began again, but I discovered I had a severe pain at the base of my left ribcage. The coughing had strained a muscle apparently. I tried to suppress the coughs the best I could.
Thursday morning, I was very suspicious as to if I may be dealing with covid and not the asthma. Laurie said she had a test kit sent from our insurance company. As you can see the test was positive. The coughing continued as did the nausea and dizziness. Early Friday morning I was vomiting again and that stopped the coughing for my lungs were, now, clear.
Friday afternoon found me on the computer asking covid questions. Can covid trigger vertigo-like effects and could covid trigger asthma-like coughs? Both responses were the same…YES! So, the covid virus was expressing itself on the 31st, but I failed to recognize it. The same with the asthma coughs.
I am typing this report on August 5 and with the exception of a slight headache and fatigue, I am feeling fair. I hope I do not need to come back here to type in reoccurrences.
I watched the Great Blue Heron for quite some time below the dam. The bird captured and devoured two fish during that time. Notice from the above photo the size of this fish. The other one was just as big and the bird simply “gulped” them down.
the Allegheny River was in nice shape this morning as I trekked through the underbrush heading to a place, I enjoy fishing. The first cast produced a hard bite, and the hook was set. Unfortunately, the sizable fish broke the eight-pound test leader, even though, I was not forcing the fight. the second cast produced my first catfish, a whopping eighteen-inch powerhouse of a fighter. I would catch more cats during the morning.
This guy insists on following me around trying to scare away the fish. Actually, this is my friend, Frank “Muskie” Maus fishing for muskies.
Prior to eleven o’clock I would catch a Freshwater Drum or a Sheepshead. Between the first catfish and Drum I would lose another big fish due to line breakage. Another catfish in the twenty-inch range came to the surface just prior to throwing the hook. I missed a few strong bites, too.
As our twenty-seventh wedding anniversary was approaching, Laurie began to look for some things of interest for the two of us to do once the day arrived. One possible visit that interested her was a potential stop at the Maridon Museum in Butler.
I did a search for details and with a nice April 22 day some plans were placed. Another area we visited is a nature park. This site will be on a separate entry.
This laughing Buddha was carved out of a solid piece of Rosewood.
This museum became reality once a woman named, Mrs. Phillips decided she needed a place to house her collectables. The museum was born. Mrs. Phillips had been an ardent collector of Asian art and sculptures. The museum is now home for her many forms of Oriental arts.
Jade and ivory sculptures were abundant within the museum walls. the craftsmanship was unbelievable to behold. Intricate detail work is always present to see. Some of the art was very, very old from various Chinese Dynasties and other works were more recent, but all were exceptional.
Other arts consisted of figurines out of porcelain. There were many on display.
Art and the required needs for creating the art were on display. These people were known as scholars and the art on display was of the Chinese “scholarly” traditions. These people would, also, excel with calligraphy and poetry.
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