Long Day

Today we went to Vera's brother Clifford's Funeral. Mik, Michelle and James came up and joined us. They had a really nice service on a beautiful day. We visited with cousins and relatives we seldom get to see. Afterwards Vera stopped by the hospital to visit her sister who had a skin graft. My knee was quite swollen by then and I was content to sit in the Blazer and elevate it. After Vera came back, we decided to take the slow way home on Jackson Hwy and relax. There is lots to see when you are cruising along at 40 MPH.


This place has more junk around it. I think they sell it.

Then there are the classic red barns, fields with cows and horses.

The Jackson log cabin is always interesting to look at.

Of course as we came by the Toledo Airport I had to take a picture of the beacon tower.

There are lots of 50's style houses along this route that look like they will last forever. By the time we got home we were relaxed and ready to settle down for the evening.

Hope you had a chance to enjoy the sunshine today.

Doctor Appointment

I went in for my first checkup today. Things went great, they X-rayed it and then the doctor checked me over. He was real happy that I can straighten my leg completely. He said that is very important to walking with no limp. He showed me some exercises for a stiff tendon. Now to work on getting full extension. I have about 100 degrees in the morning, but it stiffens up a little as the day goes on. He showed us the X-rays and explained how everything was installed. I had my camera and forgot all about it as the X-rays would have been interesting to put on here. Afterwards, we had lunch at the Country Village, did a little shopping and headed home. After all the activity my knee had swelled so I put ice on it and promptly fell asleep for a nice nap. I did a little work in the shop this afternoon. We got some bad news this evening, Vera's brother Clifford passed away this morning. Nice guy, I always enjoyed talking to him.

Hope you had a chance to enjoy the nice day.

Big Day

What a nice day! I got off to a slow start and slept in until about 9:00. By the time I did my exercises, and got cleaned up it was really nice outside. While Vera cleaned around the rhubarb which is coming up. I went over to see the twins. They were out enjoying the sunshine and I got to hold Ava for quite a while. It was funny to watch her suck on her shirt, then my shirt, I came home with a wet cuff. After icing the knee for a few minutes it was outside again to clean the pond.


Vera did most of the heavy work, but the steam is flowing normally again. The filter was so plugged that there was just a trickle coming down. After that we sat on the deck by the pond and enjoyed the sunshine. Some where in this time frame there was lunch, more ice and a short nap.


I decided to do some trimming on a helicopter I had put a new radio in.

I had to look at this one twice when I saw it, I did not fall down. I got down there so I could check the tracking on the heli's blades. Let me tell you it was a lot harder getting up than getting down there. I played with it until I ran the battery down.

While Vera had the camera out she went around taking some pictures of flowers. There are quite a few in bloom now and it really smells good by some of them.

Hope you got to enjoy the nice day!

James Day

A view from the front seat as we passed through Sandy Bend. Lots more to see up here and easier to take pictures since I can put the window down.


After we picked up James we ate at the Panda Express. We had a big thrill on Ocean Beach Hwy when a car started a left turn right in front of us. The Blazer has good brakes and Vera did a great job of avoiding the other car. None of us even spilled our pop. When we got home this deer was right next to the driveway. James hopped out and got this picture of it.

James mowed and took care of our recycling for us. Then it was off to find a cousin to play with. He found Parker and is now spending the night over there.

Vera was out enjoying the sunshine and weeding the flower beds. Me, I sat on the deck, took pictures and supervised! It was a real enjoyable afternoon. The weather forecast looks really good for tomorrow so I am thinking about going flying. I was out checking the batteries in the motor home when it dawned on me that I better see if I can fit behind the wheel. I do and it has more room for my leg than anything else we have. Now for a good night sleep and hopefully I will feel up to flying tomorrow.

Must be getting better!

Well, I must be getting better as I started looking for things to do today. The handles on my walker were leaving a smell on my hands. I had Vera go with me out to the shop to get some tape. While we were there, I loaded her up with a helicopter, transmitter and charger. On the way back I was looking for something to take a picture of and spotted the Azalea's. Looks like spring is trying to arrive. After taking the picture, Vera suggested a walk around the house. I worked up a sweat doing that as the walker need a fair amount of pushing in the soft grass. I charged up the heli while taping up the handles and flew it around the living room this afternoon. Elevating my leg has really helped with the swelling and discoloration. It was a good day, my hands smell good again, I had some fun playing and so far today only 2 pain pills. Hope you are having a good weekend.

Staples

More backseat time for me today. I can remember seeing the Weyerhaeuser bridge as a kid riding with the folks. They used to dump logs into the river at Rock Point and I would always be hoping to see it happen. The spray would fly half way across the river. Vera took me down to get the staples out of my knee this morning. My first time with staples, I have had 300 plus stitches but never staples. I was a little nervous about it, but turns out they did not hurt one bit. I was watching and could not feel them.


This afternoon Vera and I went down and picked up James after school.

We had a good time hearing about his Olympic experience. We hit Burger King and then settled in for a quiet evening at home. I showed James my technicolor leg and he took it pretty well. Nice to start having a little more normal days. My next check up is in 3 weeks and they will take Xrays then. I am curious to see what it looks like. Hopefully we can get a picture for here. We were going to take one of the staple pulling, had the camera along but both of us forgot as we were watching it done.

Hope you have a nice weekend.

View from the back

After all these years for driving the family around, I am finding out what the view from the back seat is like. There is not quite enough room in front for my knee to get comfortable so I have been riding in back. You can see my security blanket (walker) riding up there. We had to make a quick run for another blood test this morning so I tried riding in front on the way down, but was never very comfortable. Sitting across the back seat I can really check out the right side of the road as we ride along. I noticed things that just not possible when driving. Saw some deer and features of peoples places I was not aware of. When we got back to Castle Rock we stopped at the grocery store so I got to get a little exercise walking the isles. After we got home it was sunny out so Vera said we should take a walk. I made it over to Dianne's to see the twins. Boy are they cute! They react to you so well, returning smiles and reaching for hands or fingers. After we got back from there it was exercise time for the knee. It is getting easier, but after a full set and cleaning up it was time for a nice nap. Now I am all refreshed to watch the Olympics tonight. Staples come out tomorrow and I can hardly wait as they are itchy! Hope you had a nice day!

Slowly!

That's how I do everything, Slowly! I am getting there, less pain and sleeping better. This weather sure has been great. Yesterday we had to go into Kaiser so I could get a blood test. They want to test it every couple of days since I am on Warfarin to prevent blood clots. Afterwards we ran a couple of errands and headed home. A 2 hour nap was in order after that big adventure. We went for a walk later and noticed there were Bumble Bees in the heather. I always like watching them so I sat and did that while Vera got the camera to take a couple of pictures of them. I don't remember seeing them this early before.