http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_was_a_dark_and_stormy_night
Starting this week’s blog on Mother’s Day, Sunday. Went to our neighbors for lunch, picking up another neighbor on the way. We had parts of 5 families there, and lots of food. Too much cake (two chocolate with white frosting); pork roast, potato salad, fruit salad, creamed peas, & rolls. Didn’t need any dinner, but I went to play music at Taize’ and had another meal: chicken veggie casserole, salad, and more dessert (chocolate and lemon rolls). No wonder I am gaining weight. While eating I turned my head and thought I was seeing the outside of my intraocular lens replacement but that wasn’t it. I came home and went to bed, hoping to awake in the morning with it gone, but it was still there.
Monday: Ended up going in this morning to the eye doctor because of the little funny things showing in the corner of my right eye (cobweb floaters). John was really worried about me so I made an appointment with my eye doctor. Turns out it is Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posterior_vitreous_detachment
My pressure was fine in both eyes, and I passed all the severe problems tests on my right eye with the “floaters,” but I have to keep my head above my heart, not ride horses or do jolting activities, and wait for it to normally heal on its own. I decided against going to my exercise class this afternoon. This PVD apparently happens to 75% of people over 65, and for the most part is not very serious and will not be treated, once diagnosed. It has to heal naturally. Still this was a little disturbing.
It won’t hurt my going to Atlanta, (leaving May 18 till May 25 for my 50th high school reunion), as it’s okay to fly on airplanes. Hopefully, there will be no turbulence to give me a jolt. Once I was on a flight from Glasgow to London, and we did have a rapid descent from a downdraft (I guess), and once flying into Lewiston, ID a similar thing happened on landing with winds from the Snake River Canyon. That was like (I imagine) a bucking bronco horseback ride. Had to hold onto the seat in front to stay steady. Seat belts kept us from hitting our heads on the ceiling of the plane. ☺ Good thing in Atlanta, there are no bungee jumps planned.
I didn’t want to put anything in the blog before now, because I wanted to be sure I would be able to make the trip and also, I was afraid I might leave someone out who was reading the blog. I cannot visit everyone I would like to, while down there, so I will have to plan another trip in the future, now that I have my health back.
Tuesday. Slow day. To town for my feet. Bought some new (expensive) Brooks Addiction walking shoes. They are my only shoe of choice for over a decade. The price has gone up over the years, now to $110, but it’s worth it to me to have comfortable support.
Wednesday. Well, it threatened all day, but finally the bottom dropped out and it has been raining and blowing. We carried John’s computer in today, because it was very noisy and we thought perhaps the power supply needed replaced. It was very dirty inside (as normal with our house from all the dirt and dust coming in on the dogs’ feet), and so they cleaned it and then took out the one fan that was dying. They turned another fan around that was blowing into the tower, so it would blow out instead. The one that was dying no longer is manufactured, so they couldn’t replace it. They fixed it up and it is quiet and clean now. Cost us $78. John was pleased because he expected a charge over $100. The place is Complete Computer Services and the place that did the set-up for John when he wanted to start this blog back in December of 2009. John was expecting to pay for a new fan or even a new power supply and, as no new parts were needed that kept the fee just to a basic service call. These are a nice bunch of guys but they always make fun of John’s mammoth computer, cobbled together from parts from several on-line retailers.
Then we picked up our geography department secretary Marilyn and took her to lunch at Pizza Hut with our free pizza. We got 1/2 half with tomatoes, pepperoni and mushrooms, and the other half with Italian sausage, green pepper and olive. John and Marilyn had the latter and also shared some of “my” half. I had two large pieces and a third of another. We were stuffed. We had stuffed crust (with cheese). It would have cost $14.00 but we got it free with my coupon. Cool.
We then returned Marilyn to school for a 2:00 p.m. meeting – the purpose of which we knew but she did not. It was a surprise award ceremony for her. She got the Employee of the Month award and will be in the running for the Employee of the Year. She got a check for $125 (before taxes), and a plaque. It was awarded by the President of the University. I had given the department head a picture of her and a lady from town designed it into the frosting of a cake, with edible inks. Okay, that doesn’t sound too appetizing. We do better later.
Thursday.. normal / plus music day. Played at the Rehab center (where I spent so much time last year) and then we went to a music group potluck. Lots of people, musicians and good food there. John and I took lasagna (prepared by a well known company) but we added cut and pre-fried circles of Bratwursts on top and covered with two types of cheese. Yummy. I stayed to play in the jam session afterward. A brother of our guitarists’ wife is visiting from Germany. He and his wife will be in the USA for 3 weeks. John had to eat and leave to get to his Kittitas Valley Trail Riders meeting. I made it home after 9:30.
Friday… what a crazy day. Started with a trip to town to get a shoulder massage at the Adult Activity Center. Followed by a short trip a few blocks, maybe a mile, to play music and eat lunch at the Food Bank Soup Kitchen. Boy was it good today: ham-cheese-onion quiche, cut apples, a bran-type cake bread with butter, and some sort of blueberry / something mixed fruit drink. Then back to a rummage sale at the Catholic Church where I have gotten nice stuff in the past, but nothing today. On to my SAIL exercise class, but we didn’t have a teacher show and there were 10 of us. At a few classmates’ urging, I led the class in our various exercises. They seemed to like what I did, and thought it was good because of my humor and making it fun. Then off to pick up my meds, and to go to the bank for some cash. On the way home, I passed but did not pass-by a couple of yard sales. Didn’t find too much, and still need to try on a new-condition pair of jeans I got for $1. Also got a wooden salad bowl as from the 70s (although I guess you could put fruit in it as well). After a 20 minute search of the internet, John gave up trying to find a similar bowl. These bowls are made of wood chips and something (resin) pressed into various shapes. Too cheap and too many apparently – no one seems to care. I also found a nice square frying pan (Teflon coating), in excellent condition. The last two items were 50 cents each. Came home and worked on the computer and then walked out to survey John’s work for the day. He built a “guarded water walkway” with two 27 ft. telephone poles, along the sides of our irrigation ditch. The water passage allows the horses to move from one pasture with little grass to another with more grass and, in the process learn to cross water obstacles in a calm manner. The three older horses will do this from training a few years ago. The water channel between the poles is about 3 feet wide, 4 inches deep and 27 feet long. The original set up was with fence panels and only 10 feet long.
Saturday. Wow, last night we were awakened by flashes of lightning, clashes of thunder and finally rain. We don’t often get thunderstorms here, so it was interesting. This morning we had nearly twenty tons of hay delivered (340 bales; 39,940 pounds)) and put into our hay shed, without John having to do anything except make the place ready, open the gates, write a check, and then put up barricades so the horses cannot get to it. I left for a play date at Briarwood this afternoon where they feed us. On my way I stopped at two yard sales. At one I got two Mannheim Steamroller CDs (both Christmas music) for a dime each. This is one fantastic group, and my friends from West Yakima brought me one of their Christmas CDs while I was in the ICU in 2009. Their energy was to flow into me and bring me back to life. So I grabbed these today and then played one around town and all the way home. One more stop at a retirement home was another great choice of the day. They were having an in-house yard sale at Dry Creek, just up the road from where I was going to perform and eat. A lady had clothes (mostly blouses) hanging on plastic hangers. I’m looking for something that is 100% cotton, so I don’t die in polyester while in Hotlanta. She was charging a whole quarter for each item. They are my size and so I grabbed 6 things.
I’m excited. At least two/maybe 3 will work for my trip. Made it to the music venue in plenty of time, and there were 7 of us there. We played and sung our hearts out and the audience loved us and participated. They are the ones who always feed us. The food will take care of my dinner tonight. We had two casseroles, (one, chicken with noodles, sauce, peas and corn), the other had rice, tomatoes, cheese, bacon, sausage, and was rather Mexican tasting), rolls w/ butter, several desserts, and a huge salad of different types of lettuce, tomatoes, and onions. Oh, and there were two different kinds of chips and salsa and 3 other dips. I don’t need to eat till tomorrow noon.
Tomorrow we are going to our neighbors again to celebrate another birthday. It’s nice for them to include us in the family gatherings.
John just returned from checking on the horses. Just as he got out there another storm started with wind tearing leaves from trees, then rain and thunder. He sent the three horses down through the waterway to the larger pasture and let the newer horses out via a gate. With the storm and darkness the horses don’t need additional stress.
Next weekend with Nancy in Atlanta we are unsure of access to a computer for her and so what we will do for a blog posting is unknown.
All our best,
Nancy and John on the Naneum Fan