Weather, Mother, and Memes

 I completely forgot to include an update on Hurricane Debby in my last post.

Debby petered out after pounding the east coast of the United States. We had a couple of rainy and windy days here as the storm passed offshore, but it's the kind of summer weather we never would have thought twice about when I was growing up. So we were lucky with that one.

Now we have Ernesto, alternating between hurricane and tropical storm status, passing to the south of us. It had been expected to take a swipe at the outer edge of Newfoundland, but today it appears to have veered further offshore. I doubt we will notice any effects here at all.

Hurricane season in Nova Scotia officially runs from June 1 to November 30, with the most activity from mid August to October. So we are just getting started on that period now. Due to significant ocean warming, this season is forecast to be worse by far than previous years.

And yet, aside from the outliers like Fiona - whose wrath we felt in September, 2022 - our storms are nothing like those which hit the southern parts of the U.S. and places like Haiti and the Caribbean Islands. I feel like a wuss even talking about hurricanes that threaten us, considering the devastation other places experience.

Anyway . . . that's the update for now. I'm sure there will be more to come on this topic as the season progresses.

*****

And another update on my mother. Her neighbours visited her today, and reported to me that she was in good spirits - even singing! This was the first visit from anyone other than me, as they were holding off until she was more settled.

I told them I was glad to get a different perspective on her mood, and that she must save up all her complaints for me - which is natural and understandable. They said they saw the same thing with one of their relatives who had dementia - she only complained to her caregiver daughter. So that helps me feel better. And I'm glad she had company other than my sorry self!

*****

A handful of memes for you in case you need them today:

I identify all too strongly with this.

I hope the week goes well for you.

Miscellaneous Update and Other Things

So often I feel like I post about a topic and then completely forget to follow up with what happened next.

So, a few updates on recent posts:

- The Samoyed husky I was worried about disappeared from the front yard of its house two days after I made the complaint to the SPCA. It reappeared a day later, for one day only. Then not only did it disappear again, its leash and bowl that were always by the front door were gone as well. At the same time, I started seeing a Samoyed being walked in the nearby neighbourhood. I have never seen another dog of this breed in this area before. This new Samoyed has a haircut but looks about the same age. Is it the same dog? It's possible. Or the original might have been simply relegated to the back yard instead of the front yard. The back yard is completely enclosed with a high wooden fence, so I have no way of knowing by simply looking. I would need to follow up on my complaint to the SPCA, or stop my car and ask the dog walking people about the dog's history, neither of which I am keen to do because I am a spineless excuse for a person. And I can't take any more stress right now. If the dog is still with the original family  and has been in the breeze-less back yard during our several severe heat waves, I don't think I can handle knowing that. I prefer to cover my eyes and ears and hope he is living his best life with a different family now. Maybe some day soon I will gather up my courage and try to find out. Not today. Not yet.

- As I just said, we have had a couple more heat waves. Man, I detest looking up the weather forecast and seeing that blazing red banner across the screen that warns us of impending hot and humid weather! I can't function in the heat/humidity, so the gardening goes undone, even household chores go undone, while I huddle in my house or scurry to the air-conditioned grocery store and back for necessities. The nights are starting to feel fall-ish now and it feels like I have wasted summer.

- My mother is still unhappy at the nursing home. Every second sentence in her conversation is a variation on the theme of "going home". However, I have a new perspective on that which is helping me cope with my guilt that I placed her there. At an Alzheimers support group meeting, the facilitator mused that from everything I'd told them it seemed like my mother wasn't a very happy person. It took me by surprise, because (1) I'd never thought about it that way before, and (2) if I had been asked, I'd have said she seemed like . . . well, not a happy person, but a contented person . . . and I realize now that she was only contented as long as she was doing what she wanted, when she wanted, with the people she wanted . . . and that is not the same as being a happy person, is it? It blew my mind a little. At heart, my mom is not a happy or cheerful person. She would not be happy if the nursing home accommodations were absolutely opulent. She would not be happy if she was living with me, either. When she had to stay with me during storms or power outages, she became restless and wanted to go home after a few hours. What she does want is to be at her own home, doing what she wants, when she wants, etc., but because of the dementia she can't understand how she was only able to do that due to the scaffolding of assistance being provided to her (by me). So, there is not the happy ending I hoped for (including her enjoying opportunities to socialize). But the guilt I feel is getting lighter.

- More shooting stars!! The Perseid Showers just took place last week, and I went out a couple of nights to watch. I didn't lie  down, so it was hard on the neck, but in the brief time I watched, I got to see three more meteors blaze out - nice bright ones. I enjoyed those moments, but I equally enjoyed just looking at the stars in the night sky and thinking about our miraculous orb in the vast universe. It gives me such a sense of wonder and awe and peace.

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In the "Other Things" category, I seem to be coming across weird things in the news lately. Like this piece about sharks testing positive for cocaine in Brazil. Aren't sharks highstrung enough without drugs in their systems??

And I stumbled across this poem by Sara Teasdale recently. She wrote it during WWI, but it feels as timely today as it must have done then. I've had the tab open in my browser for over a week, waiting to post about it, and even seeing the tab showing the first line of the poem brings me a sense of calm and hope, despite the state of the world. I wish I had written anything so beautiful in my own life, and will continue to try. Here is the original version referred to in the Wikipedia article at the link:

"There Will Come Soft Rains"

     - Sara Teasdale

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows calling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum-trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

*****

I wish you soft rains, and the smell of the ground, and all comforting things this week, especially if you are having a difficult time, whether it's from anxiety, or stress, or ill health, or loss. 

 

Something Good from Something Bad

You may live in North America, or you may read blogs written by North American bloggers, or you may follow weather around the world. Whatever the case, many of you have probably heard about Hurricane-turned-Tropical Storm Debby which is moving up the eastern side of the United States as I write this. 

The most dangerous feature of this particular storm is the amount of rainfall it is carrying. It is moving slowly, so the rain is causing flooding in many places. There has also been at least one tornado and there has been loss of life.

Amidst the worry and the danger and the destruction, here is something I hope will cheer you. It's a story of the good that is in people. I believe there is so much good in most people and often they just need an outlet for it.

If you don't have a Facebook account I think you can still access this reel just to watch it. Unfortunately I haven't been able to locate it on YouTube or any other format except Facebook. I hope you can view it.

Click HERE.

Footnote: Debby was headed for Nova Scotia, set to arrive on Sunday, but the latest projection shows it going through New Brunswick and Quebec instead. The path could change again. Storms will do what storms will do.

If you are in the path of the storm or have suffered damage or loss of any kind from it, my heart goes out to you and I hope you are safe.

Wildlife

It is common to see poor, squashed animals on the scenic roads of our fair province in most months of the year, with an uptick in summer. Raccoons, skunks, porcupines, squirrels, birds, and even deer are, sadly, casualties of traffic on our highways and even within town limits.

I have driven into a bird (once that I know of) and over a skunk (but he wasn't on the road when I went back immediately to look, so he may have avoided my wheels). I have also narrowly missed squirrels, deer, and mice.

Recently my mental list of possible victims I need to watch for when driving has increased.

While driving across a causeway a few weeks ago, I noticed a large turtle at the edge of the road, pointed toward the other side. I did not stop to assist him to cross safely for several reasons including that it is illegal to stop on that causeway, there was heavy traffic, and I was late for an appointment. Also I was wary of being bitten. But I looked for evidence of death, or escape from death, on my return trip, and was relieved that there was no body in sight.

Last week when driving through a rural area, something caught my eye on the opposite side of the road. It was a frog, hopping mightily . . . but also mighty slowly, or it seemed that way to me as I stood on the brakes and hoped for the best. I think I missed him because, again, there was no body on my return trip. I hope he lived to hop another day.

I also had a close call with a small bird not long ago. I can't be sure I didn't send him to heaven, but I didn't check because I would have had to drive twenty minutes out of my way to get back on that highway exit to take a look, and if he was injured/almost dead, what the heck would I even do? Run over him again, just to be sure??

I must stress I was not speeding and I was paying full attention to the road and the sides of the road. These are all just random encounters at random times. It's making me want to give up driving, though. 

I was going to tell you about the deer whose leg was broken in a collision with a car and who came and laid under the bush beside our front door, and who was dispatched by a Department of Natural Resources bullet beside our front door - but that seems like a bridge too far. Nobody wants to hear a story like that.

Okay, this post is swerving wildly between happy endings and horrible ones, and now that I've unloaded all of that on you, I think you deserve some happier wildlife stuff to cleanse your mind.

 

Skunks will do that to you.

And because cats are sort of wildlife, I give you these:

That's all for today, folks. Hope you're having a good one :)