When your heart's just not in the work............

Well it's another case of the the well laid plans of The Cuckoos......

I do apologize for the lack of the new and improved Gazette. Our hearts have just not been in the fun for the past week.

GK's kitty Cybella became ill last week and we had to take her to the vet. After much testing it was discovered that the terrible mouth odor that we detected, along with the lethargy was in fact renal failure. Ms. Cybella must have ingested something and it was killing her. GK and Shelley have been down to the vet to visit Cybella every afternoon. Ry just can't take the scene in. He is so tenderhearted and cannot see animals in pain. It affects him so much that he and I have stayed home.

Ms. Cybella has improved somewhat. Her "levels" have come up but not to normals. They say that there is room for hope and improvement and that we should not think it over yet, and I am trying to hold onto the positive. Needless to say, GK has not been in the mood to create for Helen Heels and I am flat as a pancake.

I know this probably sound self serving as heck. I know it sounds as if, we, The Cuckoos split apart at the first sign of trouble, but truly sports fans......it is so hard to keep the level of happy up around here. It is a full time job. The peace and tranquility is fragile at best.

My grands have been in and continue to fight the wars of the past. They are both good kids with very tender emotional issues. If I could give an you a verbal picture, these kids are like emotional hemophiliacs....I have to be afraid of so many things that might cause them to get a small cut and bleed to death. And Ry, bless him, will always fight the war.

Just the approach of school and the end of his program was enough to knock him off his stride. School has and will continue, unfortunately, to be an unknown for us. We still have no answer from the school system as to which school he will even attend. He's afraid to go to the old one and more afraid to go to the new one. Dread and fear have replaced being in the moment like he was at summer program and he is not here with us most of the time. He has gone to his own little world to hide and soothe. It makes me so sad and feel so helpless. But I have come to a place of peace with just checking in with him every couple of hours to make sure he is still okay. His autism keeps him safe at times because he is in "his time" and then when something like this crisis happens, it forced him to readjust and it's a crap shoot whether he will be able to or not. He has been so good to his "Sissy". It is at times like this that I am so glad they have each other. I know they will always be each others friend. It is the only shining thing right now around here. To watch them soothe each other.

And now that GK is in the middle of this crisis, she too vacillates between wanting to be alone and glued to my side. When you add this pain with Ms. Cybella, her mood swings are excruciating. Just last week she was riding high with Harry Potter as Storytelling and things we so great. Watching GK fret is soul crunching. She is a chirpy little bird one moment and the next, she is a wizened old one whispering sorrow with every breathe.

I know that at the end of this situation, whatever that may be, that lessons and new paths will be opened up and that the growth made will be what The Cuckoos need to be equipped with in order to face whatever comes next. I do trust we will come through this. It is that we are in "mid muddle" right now.

I think that we will not promise anything but updates to you for a bit. I am in full time "catch them before they fall" mode and need to be alert and in attendance to the important.

Fridays post will be by Ms April Ross, storyteller, gnome lover and purveyor of fantasy fun. I know that you will enjoy her post.

xoxo Oma Linda

Getting ready for the New Gazette next week.........

Ms. Baggs has everything in ship shape order here at the Gazette. We are all up on our assignments and will deliver the new and improved content with a report from Ms. Baggs herself on Mondays...she will be giving us tips on the "new" old ways to clean and organize, then on Weds. our cub reporter and all round beauty Ms. Helen Heels will give us the glamour update from both this side and that side of the veil. Then on Fridays we will have a report from Better Gnomials and Environments....sometimes an interview with a celebrity mixed in with baking, cooking and cleaning tips. Then on Saturday or Sunday, depending on this reporters availability, I will give you an update on all the doings of Casa de Cuckoo and what's happening in our neck of the woods.

So to do just that. Albuquerque had 1000 recorded lightening strikes on Thursday night and where we live in the city, we recieved a little over 1.5" of rain. Flash flood warnings again and we were up all night with the hail and commotion. Last night there were only 600 recorded strikes of lightening (when I heard that, I'm thinking....that's about 599 more than I wanted). We had recorded winds of 89 mph and tons of rain and there was a power outage for a section of the city in the south valley and the airport (where Mr. works).

And yes, we did need the moisture.

On another note, the Cuckoos took Ms. Cybella who is Ms. GK's beloved cat, to the vet yesterday afternoon. She isn't doing very well. We knew something was very wrong when she quit being her usual pain in the ass self, racing about and causing the other animals grief. At first we contributed that to the calm collar we had put on her to help her from picking on Shelley's cat but then she developed a foul mouth odor and off to the vet we went. There are lots of vet clinics close to our house but we have found a super vet in the valley who we treasure, so we drove the 14 miles to take Cybella to be evaluated. They did all manner of poking and prodding, which she hardly even reacted to. I knew then that she was very bad. We brought her home with some sub Q liquids for her dehydration and waited for a call on the blood work.

this is our beauty who is a beast

We took Ms. Cybella back down to the vet this morning to admit her into the clinic for the next 3 days. Ms. C is suffering from renal failure. Could have been something she ingested, could be something she came into contact with when she snuck outside about a week ago for a couple of hours or could be she has had kidney problems since we got her 15 months ago and they have just have gotten progressively worse. She has always been a marker....peeing where she should not. Thus another reason for the calm collar. The terrible part is that the calm collar, which was recommended to us by an animal rescuer, could be the very thing that has affected her kidneys. Sometimes when you listen to others you need to weigh the benefits and the possible outcomes. There were no warnings on the collar but who knows what really caused the renal failure. All we know is that our Cybella is in peril.

We, the whole clan of Cuckoos, are very concerned about Ms. Cybella and if you have an extra bit of good hope thoughts, we will gladly take them. Ms. Cybella is Ms. GK's first "baby" and this is very hard on her. We are trying to keep her busy today and tomorrow working on her room. Sure hope it keeps her mind off the worry as much as possible.

Lots of positive thinking and good energies.....that's all we are focusing on at the moment.

Hope your weekend is sunny, happy and bright.

As Ms. Baggs says at all of our staff meetings.....Keep Smiling, it makes everyone wonder what you've been up to.

Another new column to add to the Ye Old Crones Gazette.........

Esmeralda Baggs here to report to you that we have concluded our negotiations with some very important and influencial personages. It was tough going but we are pleased and excited to add a Better Gnomials and Environments team of reporters who will most certainly give you the inside scoop on being in the fantasy side of our realm.

Our first report is already in and is a wonderful one. We will be visiting with a superstar gnome who, well, up until this time has never granted a personal interview.

That is all about to change this coming Friday. So join us for this noteworthy interview.

Also don't miss our Wednesday report on Fashions. Yes, readers, you have chosen Wednesday overwhelmingly as the day to watch the trends of the fashion minded Helen Heels.

Until then, Smile......it makes folks wonder what you have been up to. Esmeralda Baggs.

Gazette Shake up, adds new reporter

In keeping with the new policies of the Gazette, it is my privilege to announce that we will be adding yet another reporter to our roster. Her name is Helen Heels. Helen is a fashion forward devotee of all things trendy.

We at the Gazette would like for you to participate in the naming of her column by helping to select the day of the week she will be posting.

Your choices are:

Trendy Tuesday,
Wearable Wednesday,
Fashion Forward Friday.

Leave your choice in the comments please.

Helen will be starting her column the last week of the month, so please let  us know soon so that we can please our readers. It was upon the suggestion and reference from a very loyal reader Danni at The Whimsical Cottage that Helen Heels was added to our staff. Thanks so much Danni for your observations of an up and coming blog star reporter.

Ms. Esmeralda Baggs, CEO

Trying to get on Ms. Baggs good side with this news story...........

Mr. works for a car rental agency. And I have to admit, I never thought this job of his would produce any kind of news worthy blog fodder. Boy, was I wrong.

There is all kinds of crazy that goes on with customers and belongings left behind, unauthorized drivers, accidents, theft but nothing tops this latest escapade.

Mr. was called by the Albuquerque Police Department and told that they had one of his agency's cars. It had been involved in a traffic stop and that he needed to come and get it from the scene of the traffic stop.

The person who was driving the car had raced away from the police and mistakenly turned on to a dead end near Old Town. The driver was not on the contract, was not authorized to drive the car and had been arrested for failing to stop after a traffic violation. But he had been under surveillance by the undercover cops.

Mr. went to get the car. Got in and adjusted the front seat. When he did, he felt something brush against his leg. Mr. then pulled out a baggie filled with white powder from under the console on the floor. He began honking the car hoping to alert the undercover police detective walking away, who had given him the keys to the vehicle.

When the police officer came back to the car, Mr. said, Is this yours? Holding up the baggie of white powder, along with bags of other paraphernalia and scales that had been under the front seat. The cops jaw dropped and then he said, now we have this guy on other charges. Yes and nothing else was said to Mr. Not a thank you, not an I'm so sorry, not do do. And they only did a cursory look under the seats. Mr. said if he was going to hide something in the car he would hide it............and then showed the cop other places where it might be. Good job Mr.

The question was then posed, why hadn't the car been  searched? OH, well that was the uniforms job and that the undercover's thought that the uniforms had done their job. Come to find out that they were watching this guy for "some official reason" but no one searched or inventoried the contents of the car????????

All kinds of what if's flashed in my mind. As I am sure you are thinking now. What if Mr. had taken the car back and just rented it? A kid, dog or unsuspected person could have happened upon the "stuff". Someone could have been hurt or died ingestig it. Someone could have been stopped at a check station and arrested for having drugs. Someone who knew the drugs were in the car could have stopped the unsuspecting leasee of the car and who knows what. Oui vey.

Or as it happens, we could wonder why if the police were "doing their jobs", that none of them did search the car? Don't get me wrong. I support the hard and scary work that law enforcement does but really????? Didn't search the rental car a suspected and staked out drug dealer was driving by maybe 10 police officers who came in contact with it? Wow.

See I told you this was news worthy. Hope Ms. Baggs accepts this to print. Beside this is two posts in two days.

Okay so now here's the joke..............

you know how "old folks" are always being depicted as not being able to find their cars in a parking lot?????? You've seen them. Glazed eyes roaming the parking lot hoping that the car will grow arms and wave at them. And these folks have probably had their cars for a couple (a million) years.

Well Mr. and Mrs. Cuckoo went to the market to pick up some things for GK to have for her overnight with her bestie Bella. Keep in mind that Mr. Cuckoo works for a car rental agency and never brings the same car home two nights in a row. Secretly I think our neighbors think we're selling illegal something out of the house because of all the out of state visitors we have (wink, wink) but that's another post.

Anyway, the Mr. and I walk out and kinda give each other a giggle. Where are we parked? I'll see you that remark and raise you a what in the hell did we drive said I. We did a bit of the old people stare and then smartie britches set off the personal "help me" button and the car began to play Marco Polo in the parking lot with us.

The End.

There has been a coup de gnome......

I knew that Ms. Baggs was getting upset with me for not featuring her and her adventures in the fantasy realm but I never really thought it would come to this. In this case looks can be very deceiving. Nice old lady turns rabid after a year of being a being of traveling. You can't keep um down on the farm after they've seen how the gnomes, trolls and hobgoblins live.

The demands have been made. The warnings have been issued and things are going to change around here.....according to the new Editor in Chief of Ye Olde Crones Gazette. . . The All Powerful Ms. Baggs.

So I guess this will be my last official article as Editor. I have been demoted to a reporter.

Expect new things. I hope for the best and also will look on with a critical eye because she may wield the power now but wait until the gnomes that are backing her take over of the Gazette are back on the other side and we'll see whose pushing who........(*_%%#@