October 25, 2013

The Ducks Are Winning!

October 25, 2013

At first light this morning, I looked out the sewing room windows and the male Golden-fronted Woodpecker stuck his head out of his hole in the tree to see what he was missing.  Their hearing must be awesome.  When they have nested in an old dead tree in the front yard, the male would jump out of the hole when my key would turn in the lock to open the front door from inside.  He would quickly fly off leading me away from the nest.  I don't know what noise he heard this morning, but that head quickly popped out of the hole.  Oh, to have hearing like that!  I am in awe!

As I headed out to fill the ponds, I looked out over the water and was surprised to find NO ducks!  I thought to myself, "Maybe I am winning!"  While the hose was filling the pond I turned back toward the house and a movement caught my eye.  I looked up to the roof and there they were!

For a minute I stood there watching them as they inched a little higher up the roof to the peak, and as the picture shows, there were 7 of them.  After suggesting that they leave, I turned back to move the water, finding 12 more had flown in and landed in the water, while my back was turned, waiting...

As soon as the feeders were filled this small group flew up on the bank and headed my way while the others stayed in the water until I had gone back in the house.  Do they hear the feed sack rustle, the back door swing open, smell the food, or just know I serve good, free food at my house?

Our oldest grandson was at the office today so I used that as an excuse to pick up donuts on the way to work.  I tried to keep him busy and he did get several things done for me.  We talked a lot.  I have mentioned that he loves to write and he is taking a writing class via his computer.  He has been submitting weekly installments of a story to the teacher.  Today he brought me a copy of these first five sections.  I am  looking forward to reading them this weekend.

I love visiting with this great young man and it is so nice to not have to ask him to repeat everything he says!  I am so thankful to be able to hear him.  With my Cochlear Implant, the hearing is not perfect in all settings, but the one-on-one conversations in quiet settings are great.  Yes, there are times I do ask him to repeat, but not like I was the last few years, even before the loss in January.  It is an amazing change.

About 1:00 our second oldest grandson arrived from spending the morning with his other grandmother, helping at her business.  Both boys are picked up most Friday afternoons at 2:00 by a man from our church who takes them to study computer repairs, electronics, web page design, and several other very useful skills.  It was wonderful to visit with both of them today and HEAR what is going on in their lives.

After they left, Ron left for an appointment with the skin doctor.  He had a bunch of spots burned off and I expect he may be uncomfortable tomorrow.  I think I mentioned a little over a week ago that Ron's mom had to have a skin cancer removed.  It was rather large and deep.  The doctor says it is not a very serious one, but is deep and in fact the pathology report say he needs to remove more, so she will soon face that.  She has had a lot of pain with the work already done.  Please remember her in your prayers.

When Ron got back, I left to take a deposit to the bank and to pick up a prescription for my mom before I took her to the airport to meet my sisters for a trip together.  From there I went to meet Ron and our friends for the usual Friday night supper.  We had a good time visiting, but the restaurant is noisy, or the acoustics are just bad, but I find any restaurant is a challenge for my listening skills.

I did have one customer that I talked to for a  long time this afternoon about hearing problems.  He mentioned that he didn't know if we would be open this afternoon.  That probably means he had come by one of the days we were closed for medical reasons.  So I told him that we had been forced to close often this year for assorted medical needs.  I told him that I had gone deaf in January and at once he started to tell me how much trouble he has hearing.  He was delighted to find someone who understood the struggles he has.  Isn't that true of all of us, no matter what our struggle is?  We want to know someone understands.  When it comes to struggles with hearing, I do understand.  When it comes to struggles of any kind, God understands.