Bill has been discharged and is now home. He decided this morning that he did not want the ultrasound of his gall bladder. It would have been an unnecessary test, and insurance probably would have covered it he didn't think that would be fair to the insurance company. The dr. did not try to change his mind and since he hadn't thrown up since yesterday morning he said there was not reason to keep him. Sent him home with a script for Keflex and Phenergan. I doubt he'll need that one, but it will be good to have around.

I took the scripts to Walgreen's since it is closer to our house than Wal-mart. The locally owned pharmacy we usually use has been bought out by Kroger and right now it is a nightmare to get something filled. When I handed the girl at Walgreen's my military ID card as the insurance, she told me that it only applied to drs. and not pharmacy services. I'm still really ticked off about it and haven't decided what to do yet. I'm considering contacting corporate to complain to them. We've used that card at pharmacies all over the country to fill precscriptions. So, if you are retired military and want to have your meds filled at Walgreen's be prepared. I was just tired and stressed enough today to just take the script and leave instead of pushing the issue.

I still have to let Kim know that he has been discharged and I have the bedclothes in the washer that I need to check on. I think it will be a very early night for both of us tonight! Bill has to check in with out dr. sometime next week so I'll let you know how he's doing then. I'm not sure if I'll get a weekly one in Saturday, that remains to be seen. If I don't Happy New Year!

Bill has turned a corner!!! He was still throwing up when I walked in the door this morning they again took away everything. His mouth was so dry that he was practically begging for water, so after an hour we gave him a little and he kept it down and then had some more with his meds. 

He walked to the bathroom about lunchtime and back and didn't get nearly as winded as he had before. He said that his lunch didn't even smell good, even though I thought the pork chop looked pretty good! He did eat some of the applesauce he had though. The dr. came in then and suggested that the throwing up was not due to the breathing treatments but his gall bladder. Now, I have had gall bladder disease and you just don't throw up a little bit. You are in extreme pain. He then said that since he was already in the hospital they may as well do some tests! So, he said they would schedule that and there would be a consult with Yale University and walked out the door! Oh my, that sent him into a tizzy! I finally got him calmed down and told him they were not going to cut on him. I did some research with Yale and our hospital and the surgeon attended Yale medical school. So the other dr. was just trying to impress us...it was time to play the Mayo Clinic card! Of course any surgery would have to be done at a transplant center and not the local hospital.

He finally ate some cereal this afternoon. The surgeon came in and agreed that any surgery, if there was any, could not be done there. He checked his belly and doesn't think his gall bladder is involved, but said to have the ultrasound to be sure. He's a cardiovascular surgeon so he was very interested to hear about the transplant and the LVAD implant. Bill was much better by then.

When his dinner came he ate most of his baked fish, some of the broccoli (which looked revolting), but I don't think he ate any of his rice. He said the broccoli was tasteless and I told him it was just cooked to death! He saved his grapes for a snack. After dinner he wanted to get out of bed and sit in his chair, but his oxygen tubing wasn't long enough. That was an easy fix and while he was in the chair they changed his bedding. He again went to the bathroom and back. He stayed up until it was time for his meds and then he got back into bed.

I talked to Kim at Mayo today. She was covering for Stephanie. She then talked to his nurse. She seemed satisfied with the antibiotics he was getting and answered the questions I had about his other meds. She told me just to let her know when he was discharged so that she could order his records, but maybe she set that up when she was talking to Autumn.

There was a huge difference between the week-end staff care and today's care, as far as the day nurses are concerned. Since he had the same night nurse both nights he was cared for. I don't know who his nurse will be tonight. I came home before the nurse came in. But, it was much better care today.

So, that's it for tonight. My pizza is done, I've talked to my mother and updated her, so I'm going to eat, unwind and then go to bed to do it all over again in the morning. Keep the good thoughts and prayers coming, they're working!

Another long day. Bill did not have a good night. Of course you never have a good night in a hospital. He got a breathing treatment every 4 hours, plus IVs hung and labs drawn. He still felt horrible after I got there at 7 to give him his meds.

He didn't want breakfast and dozed off and on all morning, but they were still in and out. We kept the room dark and quiet so that he could rest. The dr. came in right before lunch, just as he was starting another breathing treatment. He said that the pneumonia was only in the right lung and wasn't a very big area. His labwork had already improved so he was hopeful that in the next day or 2 he could go home. He was going to try to eat lunch when it came but when he sat up he threw up. It was all clear phlegm but that wore him out. He was able to sleep for quite a while after that...until the next breathing treatment that came right before supper. Before they even got the tray in he threw up. This time it was green and nasty looking. He got a shot of phenergan and they changed him to a liquid diet. He ate his jello and Italian ice but not the broth. Within and hour and a half his stomach was bloated and he said it was really cramping. By 7 he was again throwing up. His night nurse is the same one as last night and he's wonderful. He said that he was holding all fluids, even water. He gave him another push of phenergan and told him to just rest. He was also going to get him some cough medicine to give his body a break from all the coughing. The breathing treatments have been discontinued and I don't know what the treatment will be now.

I did find out this morning that they didn't get all of his meds ordered so I need to add another one to his anti-rejection ones. The one they didn't order is the antibiotic for the heart mismatch. I'm to bring it tomorrow, but I think I'm going to wait until I talk to Stephanie before I give it to him. It may interfere with the other antibiotics. Something else to ask her. Marty told me tonight that they are also giving him heparin and I'm not sure why. I'll have to find out tomorrow. It may have another use other than a blood thinner that I don't know about (like I know so much anyway).

I'm not quite as tired tonight as I was last night, but it wasn't an emergency day like yesterday was. That's not to say I'm not tired because I am. Our friend Ron told me that he will bring me breakfast in the morning. He also said he'd bring something for Bill but Bill told him no. But, he was working on the 3rd time around when Ron was there so food didn't sound good. It may be a different story in the morning, and if I know Ron, he'll have something for him just in case.

I've restricted all visitors except family (and Ron). Bill thinks he needs to be "up" if someone is there. Today I even met Emily and Ryan at the front door of the hospital when they came. So far everyone as understood and is staying away.

It was 72 when I left the house at 6:45 this morning. At noon it was 50 with a brisk wind. It's 48 now and is supposed to be colder through the night, with severe thunderstorms. It was raining pretty hard while I was walking to the car. I don't hear any rain now, but there was some thunder a few minutes ago. There has been a lot of flooding in the area, and tomorrow is the day we're supposed to get the bulk of the rain. We have a wind advisory tonight and a flash flood watch for most of the week. I'll be lucky not to get sick!

All for the night. I'll update again tomorrow.

I am finally home from the hospital. Bill was pretty uncomfortable when I left, but it was time for another breathing treatment. He's still getting winded when he tries to do anything. The respiratory therapist this afternoon said that the treatments are working and he should start feeling better tomorrow. They are going to continue them through the night.

They can't do the transplant meds so I'm giving them to him. I just have to tell the nurse that they have been given. Once I told them that I've given them to him every day for 3 1/2 years they were more comfortable with me doing it. I could have just given them the meds and told them when they were scheduled, but who knows if he would have gotten them, or when!

I don't think much of the dr. Our family dr. doesn't have hospital privileges. It's a long story, he doesn't like the Chief of Staff so he revoked his privileges. So, we have to see the hospitalist. But, the ARNP at the office who I have switched to, and Bill was going to if he would have gone when I wanted him to, does have privileges. And, since Emily, our daughter works at this dr. office, she was going to see if our dr. wanted the ARNP to check on him since it's a family member of an employee.

Bill didn't eat anything until supper and then he ate half a hamburger and a few fries and some pineapple. But, that was enough to make me happy, at least for tonight. We'll see how he does in the morning.

I still have to call Stephanie at Mayo, but I won't get her until Monday. I'm going to call and leave her a message tomorrow because Monday is biopsy day and she'll be busy in the biopsy lab. But, it I leave her a message, she should get it early in the morning. We'll just have to see.

I'm almost beyond tired now since I've been going since 5 this morning. I'm sitting here in the quiet eating some peanut butter toast and then I'm going to hit the bed.

I'll update this again tomorrow night after I get home. I'm not going to take my laptop with me and it's too hard to do on my tablet. The keyboard covers the space used to type in and I can't see when I make a mistake. So, it will probably be this time tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a little earlier, but I had a lot of phone calls to make tonight. Won't have as many tomorrow, they can read about it here!

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. I'll try to update about that later.

I don't know what this is going to look like and today I don't really care. Bill has been admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. I tried to get him to go to the Dr before Christmas since the offices were closing early but he wouldn't do it. So this morning when he got very winded going to the bathroom he finally agreed that we needed to go the hospital. 

He will probably be here 3 or 4 days.  It's really hard to update this on my tablet so I will do a better job when I get home tonight. 

As if last week wasn't busy enough, this week was a doozy! Monday we got McKenna from school and then it was the night of Brianna's choir concert. They did a good job. There are so many kids in choir this year they were able to break it into 3 different choirs.

Tuesday we again got McKenna from school as it was her band concert. The high school jazz band opened the concert and there are a lot of kids in the middle school band. The beginner band actually sounded better than the other one. I know they were playing much easier music, but their overall tone was better. 

Wednesday I went to the church and helped pick music for the kids Christmas program tomorrow. I also finished shopping and got what I needed for our Christmas with the kids tomorrow afternoon. When I got home there was a strange car in the driveway. Some good friends had stopped by...to show us their new car! We had a good visit with them. Floyd even helped me carry the groceries in and Bambi helped me sort out the things that needed to go in the fridge/freezer.

Thursday I got the CD burned with the music. My best friend's mother passed away Sunday night and her visitation was Thursday evening, so off to the funeral home we went. She is handling things pretty well. She's an only child and her father passed away a couple of years ago. She also doesn't have any children so it all fell on her. But, with the help of friends, she's making it through.

The funeral was yesterday and I ended up not being able to go. The furnace repairman came early in the morning to change the filter and I was kept busy getting things for him. I knew where the things were, Bill didn't. Last night was our church Christmas dinner at a local steak house. We had a good visit with everyone, but the place was freezing cold and most of us sat with our coats on all evening. They didn't turn the heat on in the party room until we started arriving!

This last week has tipped Bill over the edge with his cold. He is now coughing really hard and the cough medicine seems to be making it worse instead of helping. I think he's also starting to run a little fever. So, whether he wants to or not, he's going to the dr. Monday. I tried to get him to go yesterday, but the nurse practitioner wasn't there and I think the dr. we've seen for years would just brush it off. He and his nurse are afraid of treating Bill now since the transplant. Depending on how he is when he gets up, we can always drive the hour to Jonesboro to the walk-in clinic. I so wish we had one here!

I'm sure that Stephanie would not be happy with me for letting him go so long without being seen, but again it's walking that fine line between caregiver and spouse. I know I've written about that before...we have to live with the patient and not just care for them. But, when I told him last night that he would be at the dr. Monday morning, he didn't argue with me, so I know he feels bad now. Before he still felt pretty good, but now he doesn't.

Today is "goodie" making day, although I really don't have to with all of the goodies we've gotten from friends and family. Then tomorrow morning is cooking the hot foods for tomorrow afternoon...unless we have to cancel it like we did last year. I'll make that call later today!

So, there you go. Next week should be a breeze as far as activities go. Christmas Day will just be me and Bill and I told him we may have what we had for our first Christmas together...hot dogs. That was all we could afford! I want to wish anyone reading this, whether for the first time, or whether you've followed it from the beginning, or sometime in between, a Merry and Blessed Christmas. If you look hard enough, you can find blessings in any situation, even bad ones, as this blog has shown.

Merry Christmas!

Another week in the books! We are both still fighting colds. I think we're just passing it back and forth. I finally gave Bill and ultimatum this week, he either started taking some OTC meds, went to the doctor, or I call Stephanie. He opted for the meds and, other than a lingering cough which isn't frequent, he's feeling better. I felt good all week until Thursday evening and then realized that my throat hurt and I had a headache. I woke up yesterday with the headache, a weepy eye and all stuffed up. So, I took some more meds and feel a lot better today. There are so many sick here and these colds are lingering 2-3 weeks. So, even though we are trying to stay away from as many people as possible, it doesn't always work.

We had fun with grandkids this week. I picked McKenna up from tutoring on Monday and Wednesday. We always know what's going on with her because she talks nonstop, flitting from subject to subject. She wanted a snack and never did eat it because she was too busy talking!

I had to take something to our former daughter-in-law's house Monday evening and Kiyann handed me a piece of paper and said her class was going to view the Christmas lights on a hayride and wanted to know if I could take her. Her step-dad was going to be working and they only have 1 vehicle. I told her that I could and she was so excited! She said "I ain't never been on a hayride before"! This was going to take place on Tuesday night. Our town puts up a huge display that is becoming pretty well-known outside of our area. It's called Lights of the Delta and it's a drive through the old air force base golf course. We hadn't been for several years and they have added several different displays. It also helped that Tuesday night was 1/2 price night and it was only $5 to drive through. So Bill, Kayden and I followed the haywagon. The kids had the best time and it wasn't too cold for her to be out.

Wednesday, in addition to McKenna, Brianna came over after her orthopedic appointment in Memphis. I don't know if I've said anything about that here or not but she injured a knee when she played basketball in middle school. Softball has aggravated it and she has undergone several physical therapy sessions. It has improved enough now that she has been released from the dr. It has not healed, but the only alternative now is surgery which may or may not help. In addition to playing softball, she also made the dance team, which in my day would have been a pom pom team. So, if she can do all of that, I think she'll be OK. They've just told her to wrap it before games.

We did manage to get the Christmas decorations down from the attic and the tree put up. The only other decorating I did was hang our stockings. I hung them from the dresser the TV is on instead of the mantle. We got a lovely poinsettia from our lawn service and that with our wooden sleigh to hold Christmas cards and we're done. I just didn't feel like dragging it all out. I got all the cards addressed yesterday and got the Christmas checks mailed along with a couple of packages. Most of the gifts that I ordered have come in and they are all wrapped and under the tree. I still have a little more shopping to do and Bill hasn't done any even though he talks about it every day.

He was going to go Wednesday after he got a haircut but came home instead. It's a good thing he did because he left his glasses at the barbershop! So, we hopped back in the car and went to get them.

It's very warm today, 70 at 6:30 this morning. We're to have some storms and heavy rain tomorrow and with it this warm I thinking that the storms may be more severe than they have predicted. I remember a Christmas Eve tornado from several years ago. We spent that Christmas in Illinois with family (although I don't remember if it was before Bill and I were married or not). Anyway, I hope we don't have a repeat of that.

That's about it, I think. Our family Christmas is going to be on the 20th so I'll spend the coming week making some goodies. I think we just going to "graze" as far as food goes. Just appetizers and munchies. The kids never want to really eat anything and can always sent things home with them. Also saves on clean-up!

Have a good week everyone!

We finally have sunshine! After rain straight through from last Friday until Monday, and they clouds Tuesday, we finally have had sun for the rest of the week. What a difference it makes it attitude...at least mine. I'm finally back to getting up earlier and having my quiet time before Bill gets up.

On the other hand, Bill has slept later all week. He's caught my cold and can't quite shake it. We have been going 'round and 'round about taking some meds for it. Since it has been nearly a week I've told him that Monday he goes to the dr. He's got some congestion with his and is doing a lot of coughing. 

We're going to try to get the Christmas decorations down from the attic today. We can get the boxes down since I can slide them down the ladder to him. But getting them back up there is a different story!

I did most of my Christmas shopping on line this week. Except for a few things, it's done. A couple of things were cancelled and are not going to be replaced, but the bulk is done. Bill has been adamant about going shopping and that I needed to give him a list. So, I got online at Walmart and found some things and then printed out the pictures of them for him to take. I know they have the items in the store because I've looked at them there. So that should help him. He's said every day that he's going to go and then doesn't. I don't know if it's because he hasn't felt well or if he's apprehensive about going alone. He does get confused in stores, especially when there are lots of people. So, I don't know what he'll do. Our friend Ron would go with him I'm sure.

That's all for this week. I'm still finishing making some gifts and it's time to get back to my knitting!

November 27, 2015...the day my body finally said that it was not getting out of bed! I woke up at 7:15, the time Bill is supposed to take his medicine. I got out of bed, got the medicine, woke him up, handed them to him and went back to sleep. First time in almost 4 years that I have done that. I was tired all day and didn't even get dressed! Good thing we had leftovers to eat.

I ended up cooking for Thanksgiving after all. I woke up Monday morning thinking that it wouldn't be THAT much trouble to fix a turkey breast. We didn't have a lot of sides and not a lot of leftovers. 

The rain started late yesterday afternoon and is supposed to continue through Monday. We have a flash flood watch through tomorrow night. We got heavy rain during the night but it was slowed some this morning. At least we're just getting rain. Our kids in Oklahoma are not getting freezing rain, but it's not supposed to get this far east. Ms. A I know you are somewhere in Texas so I imagine you are getting "something". I don't know if you are in the heavy rain area or the snow/freezing rain area, but I hope you are safe and dry.

Bill is determined that he is going Christmas shopping...soon. I keep telling him he has a lot of time and I haven't given him a list yet. The list will have to be very detailed. Emily has said she will go with him if he wants and that if he has to order something just to tell her which website and credit card he wants to use. 

I don't do the Black Friday shopping although it's my daughter's favorite day of the year. I don't know who she gets that from! I don't like shopping at any time!

Except for the last couple of days, this was a pretty normal week. It wasn't as slow as last week was, but it also didn't speed by. Hopefully this week will be the same.

That's all for this time. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, however you celebrated! Just think, the next post will be in December! This year has flown by!
 

This has been the longest week! I have said/thought that every day beginning Tuesday! I don't know why it has seemed that way. We aren't anticipating anything coming up or looking forward to anything special. But, it has been very long...and it's still only Friday!

I decided to do this tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow. I've caught a lovely cold and feel horrible and I'm hoping I can sleep some tomorrow. I haven't slept well all week, which is contributing to the cold I'm sure.

Bill has had a normal week, walking every day for at least 1 hour. He did go back out for another hour a couple of days and today he walked for 1 1/2 hours. But, his fluid intake has dropped again and he was up with leg cramps again in the night.

Our weather has been strange, which has contributed to my cold. It was very warm the first part of the week, near 80 and very windy and rainy. We didn't get as much rain as predicted, but we got enough. Of course now it has gotten cold and is supposed to get colder tomorrow. We already have a wind advisory for tomorrow and a freeze warning for tomorrow night. It will be a good week-end for lighting the fireplace. 

Bill has started wearing pajamas, which is very out of character for him. But, I had told him before that he wouldn't be so cold in the night if he would at least wear some sleep pants. And, lo and behold, as we got ready for bed one night he put on a pair of pajama pants. I told him he had about 3 more pairs of pajamas that we had gotten when he was in the hospital. He could wear those at times instead of hospital gowns. So, I got them out and washed them up and he's worn a pair every night since. He's even started following me and getting out of clothes and into them earlier in the evening. 

Emily asked me if I could make mashed potatoes for her Wednesday for their youth group Thanksgiving dinner. She brought me 10 lbs. of potatoes and milk and butter and 2 crockpots. So, I peeled and chopped all the potatoes and got them cooked for her. The peeling and chopping was fine (except for trying to peel and chop my thumb), but the mashing and whipping, even with the electric mixer, was another story. By the time I got them all the in the crockpot I could hardly move my fingers! But, she said they were all eaten so they must not have been too lumpy. Then again, it was teenagers and they still will eat just about anything!

That's about it for our week. Bill has had his meds for the night so I can take more cold medicine and my normal meds and go to bed early. Maybe I'll feel better in the morning. 

We have no plans for Thanksgiving, other than not cooking. The kids are going to the in-laws so it's just the 2 of us. Our Holiday Inn has had a buffet in the past on Thanksgiving and Christmas and I'm trying to find out if they are having it this year. Otherwise we'll figure something out. I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving. If you are spending the day with family, have a good time of fellowship. Even though I'm not cooking, I'm still thankful for the 3 extra years we've been given so far.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here it is, 2 pm already. Where has the day gone?

After 6 loads of laundry on Monday and grocery shopping on Tuesday, I finally was able to sit and recover from our travels. Bill also took it easy for a couple of days. But, I think we're finally almost back to normal, whatever that is.

We took the screen down from the front door and in the window since it's gotten cooler. I also was going to put the mattress warmer on the bed when I had it stripped and discovered that there were no controls in the package! Since it's been awhile since I bought it (Bill kept saying we didn't need it) I couldn't take it back. It really doesn't surprise me. Not only were there no controls, it was just a plain mattress pad. I have a feeling that someone bought, a mattress pad and a mattress warmer and then put the regular pad back into the warmer package and took it back to the store. One way to make a little money, I guess.

We had some excitement in town this week. Al Roker was at our historic bus stop on his Rokerthon 2 tour. We didn't go see him. The ones who went said he was only here for about 15 minutes before leaving for his next stop. But, there was a good crowd for him.

Bill has done better with his fluids this week. I always judge it by the amount of water bottles left in the package. I bought a package Monday and it was half gone by Wednesday, which is better than he's done for some time. But, it only has 1 more bottle missing, so he's slowing down so I'll have to remind him to start drinking again. I've noticed that he will get a bottle and drink all of it when I tell him that he needs to drink more, but he doesn't want to initiate getting the bottle.

We had a little funny this week. Our alarm system has a function with it that sounds like a doorbell when the monitored doors are opened when the alarm is off. Just a little precaution that lets us know if a door is opened when it shouldn't be without the alarm being on. Bill had gone out to use his treadmill which is located in the studio apartment attached to our garage. The door usually pings a couple of times while he's out there. He keeps the door open so that he can see out while he's walking but will shut it if he's in the bathroom. I heard the door ding a couple of times, pretty close together, and then it kept dinging. I wondered what he was doing, but didn't want to go check on him. When he came in I asked what he had been doing and he said there was a wasp in the room and he was trying to shoo it out. It kept landing near the door so he would open it and swat at it to get it out. He finally just killed it! That explained the door dinging, but it was sure driving me bonkers!

That's it for this week, nothing exceptional going on. I still haven't uploaded the pictures of the sunrise/sunset yet. Just call me lazy! Have a good week ahead!

This will be pretty short, just to let folks know that we made it home from our adventures! The weather while we were in Florida was fantastic, upper 80s to 90 and no rain. But, every day that we had to drive there was rain!

We had a good visit with Bill's sister and her husband. We did hit the beach for the sunset on Thursday and it was a doozy. I'm too tired to upload all of the pictures tonight, so maybe they'll get put on here by next Saturday.

We've got the car unloaded but everything is sitting in the middle of the living room (not exactly in the middle but you get the idea). I've got to see what there is to eat tonight but I have a feeling we're going to order pizza!

Bill has done better with his fluid intake this week so maybe it finally hit home with him. But, we'll see now that we are home and will get back to our normal routines.

All for this post...I'm wearing out fast!

Blogger is acting really strange tonight mixing fonts together, so if this looks weird, that's the reason.

Bill got a good report from Dr. Hosenpud, except for his kidney function. It has not been good since the transplant but it has been holding stable. But, his numbers were higher than before, bordering on too high. His prograf (one of the anti-rejection meds) is filtered through the kidneys which adds to the problem. As of now, all they are wanting him to do is drink more, which of course, I have been telling him. But, it comes better from someone other than "the wife". So, he's going to try to do better.

When we come in May, Dr. Hosenpud also wants to do a heart cath. They have not done one for 2 years because of his allergy to the dye. But, he said to make sure he is given the meds to counteract that and if the dr. who is doing the cath, or sees us in clinic doesn't think it's necessary, to tell them to cancel the cath. Don't know exactly how that will work, but we will see. I guess it will be a time to assert some authority again.

The weather on the drive down wasn't bad when we left early Sunday morning, but right before getting on the interstate in Alabama it started raining and rained the entire way to our overnight stop. We got totally soaked getting dinner. I had planned on just going through the drive-thru at Zaxby's but it was raining too hard and I could park right at the door. We parked farther from our room than I wanted, but we didn't have to use the key to get in the front so parked there. Yesterday we had to wait longer to leave because of torrential rains and it rained hard enough that it was hard to see until right before we got to Florida. After that it didn't rain at all. It took 45 minutes to get through town because of a horrible accident. It looked like they had to cut the people out of one of the cars.

I have truly enjoyed our balcony. I sat with my coffee and devotions this morning and watched the sun rise. Ironically we will be able to watch the sun set when we get to Clearwater tomorrow.

I've had a terrible time with electronics this trip. My car charger died and then I left the USB cable in the car last night, so my phone was almost completely dead this morning. I couldn't get my new cable for my tablet to charge it until this afternoon, and the internet at this hotel leaves a lot to be desired. I guess they don't expect guests to use the internet since they should all be on the beach! Anyway, it has been a challenge. Made a quick trip to the ATT store and got a new interchangeable charger for the phone, batteries for the cameras that died while I was taking pictures of the sunrise. Could only replace them in the cheap camera and not my Kodak because Walmart didn't carry/doesn't carry the battery packs anymore! Oh well, we managed. I'll try to get some pictures uploaded after we get home.

I do know that the internet is not good where we are staying in Clearwater so don't know if there will be any posts until we get home on Sunday.

OK, that's it for this leg of the trip. I need to make one final trip to the balcony before calling it a night...the wind and waves are calling my name!

 

Rain, rain and more rain! It rained for four straight days this week, stopped for a couple of days and started in the middle of the night. It has rained most of the day today, but is supposed to stop by late afternoon. It's also windy and chilly, so it's totally miserable out.

We are just about packed for our trip to Florida tomorrow. Our suitcases are in the car and the only things left are things we still need access to today. I'm hoping to leave pretty early. With the time change and getting dark earlier now I really want to be at our hotel before dark.

Bill got stung by a wasp Thursday when he was taking out the trash. There was one on the trashcan and he didn't see it. I didn't feel the stinger in it but put a baking soda poultice on it. I also gave him some tylenol and benadryl. He said it was sore for quite a while, but it is fine now.

I will update this after Bill sees the Dr. on Tuesday. Our written itinerary and the online itinerary show different drs., but they are both in the transplant program so they will both be familiar with his case. We haven't met one of them but the other one is good ole Dr. Hosenpud.

I may not get an update done next Saturday as that is a travel day for us. So, maybe Sunday after we get home. 

Don't forget to turn your clocks back tonight and hope the little ghosts and goblins have a good time tonight. Happy Halloween!

It's a dreary, rainy day, but we need the rain so I won't complain, even though I got caught out in it this morning with McKenna. She wanted to spend the night last night and hang out with us today. She's been sick again with strep. She's on her second round of antibiotics in less than a month. Hopefully this will knock it out of her.

Sunday we drove up into the Ozark foothills to see the leaves since our local weather people had posted a map that showed them at near peak. We were disappointed, even though it was a beautiful day for a drive. The leaves that had changed were dull and not very pretty. We think it is because it was so dry this summer. But, we had a nice drive and lunch.

We got the washing machine somewhat draining again without calling a plumber. I do have to watch when it drains after the wash cycle and if I do just small loads it drains OK. There's still something clogging it somewhere, but I didn't feel like dealing with people this week, so we managed.

We were going through some things stored in the laundry room and found Bill's original digital camera. This one has to have a floppy disk in it. The battery was dead of course and who knows where the charger for it is, so went to ebay and was able to order one with an extra battery. I wouldn't have done it, but Bill's brain is in an endless loop about it now. Of course you can't buy floppy disks anymore except for obscure websites. But, this one may be easier for him to operate than the newer ones.

The rest of the week was just normal stuff. I did manage to get a haircut finally. Nobody's fault but my own for not getting it sooner! We took McKenna out to eat for breakfast and then she and I went to Walmart to get the yarn for her afghan. I finished the Captain American one for William except for sewing the star on. I also need to do the finish work of weaving ends on both the afghan and Petra's monster pants. Kenna changed her mind about the color she wanted and I had several squares made, but was getting tired of making them anyway so this was an OK change. I can use the squares for a blanket for the girls dolls. 

We'll spend next week getting ready to head to Florida. We leave next Sunday morning and will be back the next Sunday some time.  All for this post. Enjoy your week-end, however you spend it!

Another week down. It seems like we didn't do very much this week, so I'm really going to have to dig around in my brain to remember anything pertinent!

My IBS kicked in Sunday morning. I had everything ready for our dinner at church and then ended up staying home. Bill took everything with him and said there was a good crowd. He brought one dish home completely empty.

We got flu shots this week. There have already been some confirmed cases of the flu in the area. Unlike previous shots, I have not gotten sick! I usually have some symptoms within a few hours of the shot but not this year. We also had another nurse this time and we neither one felt the shot! The site has not gotten sore and I have just a very small spot at the site. I haven't looked at Bill's arm. She said that his bled a little so he might have a little bruise.

We were going to take a drive this week to see if the leaves have changed, but put it off. They are really just starting to turn so maybe this week we'll do it.

I still haven't worked on the washing machine yet, so will need to do that today. I've already been to the grocery store and have a pot of potato soup in the crockpot. It's supposed to be very cool today, or cool for us, in the mid 60s. But, it's supposed to be into the mid 30s tonight so we'll probably have to put the heat on again in the morning.

That's about it, or at least it's all that my brain can dig up! Have a good week-end!

Fall is gone and we are back to summer. It was very cool last week-end, only made it into the mid 50s on Saturday. I finally broke down Sunday afternoon and turned the heat on, only long enough to get the chill out of the house. By Tuesday we were back to the air conditioning. It's a little cooler today. The air is back off and the door opened.

We didn't do much this week at all. We're having problems with our washing machine draining now. I did laundry Wednesday and thought it was sounding funny. I just happened to be standing in the kitchen. Looked behind the washing machine and saw water dripping from the drain. Had to move both appliances to get it all mopped up, which also told us that the room is not level anymore! Everything else was draining fine, kitchen sink, bathrooms, so I ran the garbage disposal to clear it and the washer did fine so we thought it was fixed. I decided Thursday to wash a couple of blankets and only got 1 done because it did the same thing. I was in the laundry room working so I stood there turning the washer on and off to get it to drain. Needless to say I only got 1 blanket washed! So, this next week we will call Roto-Rooter. I did see them at the neighbors Thursday afternoon, so maybe their problem was also our problem and it is fixed. I'll just have to fill the washer with some water and see what happens. My sister also told me to pour a little Liquid Plumber down the drain pipe and then fill and drain to see what happens. If anyone out there knows any other remedies, I'm open to suggestions!

Bill cleaned out the garage some yesterday. He went out to look for our old stadium seats for the Homecoming game last night for Emily and decided to sweep out all of the leaves and accumulated dust. He couldn't believe how dirty it was, but it hadn't been done for 3 years! He's the only one who parks in the garage so we're not in it a lot.

I've been doing a lot of crocheting and knitting and as a result I have "crafters elbow". The only real treatment for it is rest and it's driving me crazy that I can't work on William's "Captain A'mica" afghan. It's more than half done and I really want to finish it. But, there's a nice lump at my elbow and it really does hurt to use my arm so I'm trying really hard to be good!

We're having a carry-in dinner at church tomorrow and I still have to get my cake baked and casserole mixed together. I'm not cooking the casserole until the morning, but I'm mixing it tonight to save some time. And, I must get the cake baked before the ballgame comes on at 4:30 so I'd better get going!

All for this week, have a great week-end!

Fall has finally arrived...not just the official start, but the actual season! The leaves are starting to turn and fall and the temperatures have dropped and you can just feel the change. I love it!

Monday was the first day that I actually felt good, not better but good. There have been so many, all over the place, who have/had this cold/sinus/allergy mess. Mine lasted exactly a week and then was gone. Luckily, or maybe because of his daily antibiotic, Bill has not gotten it. He did have a draining nose the other day, but that has also stopped.

He finally got a haircut and Thursday we got the oil changed and tires rotated on my car. They looked at the seat that came apart and have to order the part. So, we'll make another trip when it comes in. It was a beautiful day for a drive that day.

Bill has walked most days and he said he had to turn his little heater on yesterday! We have finally turned the air off. It's still really cool this morning so haven't opened the door yet. It's been really windy the last 2 days and I had to take my door decoration off last night because it was banging against the door.

 We got a new credit card this week (one of our switched) and as I was putting it in my wallet I noticed I was missing one. I knew the last time I used it was for something on line and I looked everywhere, under the chairs, in drawers, took everything out of my purse, nothing. So, I broke down and called the company, verified all of the recent purchases and then talked to a very nice lady who is sending me a new card, and it's just a replacement card, not a new account number since we have Bill's card. I hadn't been off the phone 5 minutes when I sat back down and lo and behold, in between the cushion and arm of the recliner was the card! The only place I hadn't checked. I didn't try calling back to cancel the new card. It was too much of a hassle to get past all of the automated questions to actually talk to a person. So, when it comes in, I'll shred the old one. Lesson learned...put it back on the table instead of the arm of the chair and then back into the wallet as soon as I'm finished!

We met Ryan and Amanda at the halfway point and did a kid swap. It was the first time in several months that he called and talked to Kayden and Kiyann and actually wanted them to come for the week-end. Tori was going to spend the week-end in town her with her brothers, so we dropped 2 off and picked 1 up. We were surprised that Kiyann actually wanted to go and there weren't any tears when the time came. She gave her daddy the biggest hug, and he just closed his eyes and held her. I wish he would make more of an effort to see and talk to them. I know most of the conflict comes from Amanda and he doesn't want to make waves, but these 2 need their dad and he was always a pretty good dad. So, there's hope yet!

All for this week! Have a great week-end!

Not much went on this week. I woke up with the "end of summer" head cold that is making its rounds. On top of that defoliation of the cotton has started. For you who don't know what defoliation is, when the bolls start forming on the cotton plant, the plants are then killed (defoliated) to make picking easier. They do this the same way they fertilize in the spring, by crop duster. We're told that it's not harmful to pets or humans, but for those of us with allergies, we can feel our throats closing with each pass of the plane.

Anyway, I've been quite miserable all week. I'm feeling much better now except for a nagging headache. I'm stuffier today, but it's rainy so that also doesn't help.

Luckily, Bill doesn't seem like he is going to be affected. He's done a little sneezing, but that's all. He's done quite well with walking this week, twice a day most days. I sent him off to the grocery store with a list and he did just fine. I think it helped him that I was not feeling well.

We don't have anything coming up in the next week. We do both need haircuts and Bill's been saying all week that he was going to get one and hasn't yet. I still need to get the oil changed and the tires rotated and a seat looked at. So, I guess we could have some things going on it we worked at it.

 Wow, that was strange! I saved this and then got up to swap the clothes in the wash and put the clean sheets on the bed. When I sat back down, probably only 10 minutes or so later, the computer was completely frozen. I actually had to unplug it and take the battery out to get it to shut off. When it powered back up, it didn't go to my homepage, it came straight back to the blog! I do see though that it may have updated. I'm going to have to check those settings. I don't like it updating during the day, only in the middle of the night when I'm not using it!

When I ordered Bill's meds this week I told the technician at Mayo Pharmacy (Dustin) what I needed and then said that should just leave calcium and aspirin and we were good on both, he commented that I was right and then said that I must have done the ordering before. I told him every month for 3 1/2 years and he just said wow. It is kind of hard to believe that it will be 3 1/2 years on November 3. It still feels like yesterday on some days and others it's hard to remember details. But, if I really need to know something, I can refer to this blog. I still remember how that surprised the doctors and nurses that I could find things rather quickly when they couldn't remember or find something easily in his records. I would encourage anyone dealing with an ongoing medical condition to take notes and then keep the notebook handy.

All for this week that had nothing happening! Happy Fall!

This week seemed to go by really fast at times, and then really slow at others. The first part of the week was busy and the last part not so much.

I took Brianna to her orthodontist appointment after school Monday and a routine adjustment turned into an almost 2 hour appointment. They were packed and she had a wire come loose so it took longer. I actually sat in the car and waited so others could sit. The waiting room is rather small.

We took Amanda to the dr. and then to Walmart for a few things on Tuesday. Of course the pharmacy was backed up and it took more than an hour to get medicine. Since it is an hour each way we were tired when we got home. Good thing I put supper in the crockpot that morning. 

Wednesday we did absolutely nothing, other than what had to be done, like meals. We took care of some business Thursday that we had been putting off, and yesterday was laundry. 

We discovered Wednesday evening that the Marine Corps watch I had gotten Bill for Christmas was missing. We only thought of it when the battery in his "everyday" watch died and we looked for it. Something else taken during the robbery. It wasn't expensive and not worth adding it to the claim, just more aggravating than anything! I'm going to order him another one but I'm having trouble with the website. The problem is on their end and not mine so I'm just biding my time.

We got Bill's itinerary yesterday for his next visit to Mayo...November 3. He only has 3 appointments so it will be an easy day. The worst is the time of his labs, 11:30, and they are fasting labs. I'm going to call Stephanie to see if it can be changed. I know why it is so late, it's just a convenience since the other 2 appointments are at 1:30 and 2. We are also seeing a new doctor. After the visit, we'll head to Clearwater for a few days to see Bill's sister if they are going to be available. I've spent the morning working on hotel reservations. This time we are going to splurge and stay on the beach instead of in town. 

 Bill has been showing some subtle signs of depression again. He doesn't know that I have picked up on it yet. It's nothing major, just some behavioral changes, which is usually how it starts. May have to add some xanax to his meds again. At least he doesn't notice when there's an extra pill!

That's our week. Our cooler weather left us and it was quite hot and humid this week. We'll be somewhat cooler this week and very dry. The farmers like it since they are able to get the beans harvested. It's not time for cotton yet, although some defoliation has started, and that is horrible for my allergies. Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

Late post today...sorry for that, but I've had a busy day and have just slowed down. No, there's nothing wrong. In fact we've had a good week.

We rested Sunday from our trip and then turned around and drove to Illinois to meet my mom, step-dad, sister and niece for lunch with Kayden and Kiyann. The kids were so excited to get to go on a trip. It was a nice day, but quite a bit of traffic, as I expected there to be. We had a good time at lunch and enjoyed seeing everyone.

Tuesday we did absolutely nothing. I was really tired then and I think Bill was too. We picked up a few groceries and that was it. Wednesday was laundry and it seems like we did something else or had someone pop in but I can't remember what it was now. Is that a sign of getting old?

Finally got some groceries Thursday. Bill did some walking yesterday. Just normal stuff.

I was supposed to go to Dyersburg shopping with Mistie yesterday but we had to postpone it today. We had a good time at Joann's Fabrics and then had lunch at Applebees. I left Bill home. His lunch was in the fridge with the heating instructions on it and he managed just fine. I think it's probably good for him to be on his own some and have to do for himself. It's hard for me to let him do it when I'm home. He was going to get a haircut, but decided against it or the barber wasn't open.

Our weather has gotten cooler and is fantastic today, low 70s and it got down into the 50s last night and is supposed to be cooler tonight. I put a pot of potato soup in the crockpot this morning and I've added the cream cheese so it can be eaten at any time now. It has made the house smell really good. 

That's been our week. I'm going to Ryan and Amanda's Tuesday to take Amanda to the dr. She is starting a new job this week and gets off at 3. Her appointment is at 3:30 and Ryan has to be at work by 3:30 and they only have 1 car. Ryan's dad has dr. appointments himself that day and his step-mom will be picking her grandson up from school. Bill doesn't know if he will go with me. It takes about 45 minutes to get there and who knows how long we'll have to wait at the health dept., so he may just stay home.

Time to dish up the soup. Hope everyone has had a good week, and that you have a good  week coming up.

We had a lovely trip to Biloxi! The drive, both ways, were good with light traffic, and the weather was good. It was cloudy Weds. and Thurs. and we thought we were going to get some rain Thursday afternoon, but it blew through.

Our view from the balcony wasn't as good as I was wanting, but after rearranging the chairs, it was decent. There was a construction site directly across from us, but it was interesting watching them some too. We didn't really like it that they started working at 6:30 in the morning, but that was only a minor inconvenience.

Bill did pretty well, especially since we spent most of the time in the casino. He was a little overwhelmed by all the noise and people, but settled down after awhile and enjoyed himself. He gave me a few heart stopping moments when he mis-stepped getting on the escalator a couple of times, and then tripped going down a small flight of stairs. We also had to step over a "seal" for the balcony door that I was afraid he was going to trip over, and he did forget a couple of times.

But, for the most part, he did quite well. My legs are pretty sore from all the walking we did. But I knew I need to move more anyway.

We were pleased to see that, of all the things that were lost during Katrina, the historic lighthouse still stood. We remembered where the hotel we had stayed in before had stood, but it's gone now, as well as the older homes that lined the beach road.

We got home late this afternoon, got the car unloaded and then ordered a pizza. Bill has taken his meds for tonight so we can go to bed any time, and it probably won't be long. We're not planning on doing anything tomorrow. I may do laundry, and then again, may not. 

We're taking 2 of the grandkids to Illinois to meet my mother, step-dad, sister and niece for lunch on Monday. These 2 kids haven't seen "Grandma Phyllis" for 4 years. We're all driving halfway and it just happens that it's a nice area with lots of restaurants. It will be a 6 hour round trip drive, not counting the time we spend together, but once we get home, we can just collapse and not do anything at all for a few days. Then again, the car is due for an oil change and tire rotation, and I need to find some double pointed knitting needles. We only have a Walmart here for supplies and they don't have the right size. So it's a trip to either Hobby Lobby or Jo-Ann Fabrics.

All for this week. Enjoy the rest of your holiday week-end!

We've had another boring, normal week. Our weather was wonderful, actually felt like fall for a few days. It's going to get warmer this coming week, so we've really enjoyed this week.

We've decided to take a few days to celebrate our 25th anniversary. We're heading to Biloxi/Gulport MS area for a few days. We were last there before Katrina hit, and since this is 10 year anniversary of the storm, it's been a while. We don't know how long we'll be gone, and all we're really planning on doing is getting a room with a balcony view of the ocean to sit and watch the water. We really don't care if we do anything else.

As I said, this was a normal week, so nothing really to report. I'm over my sinus problem, Bill hasn't had any headaches this week, or if he has he hasn't told me about them. We've noticed that the neighborhood has been very quiet since the big drug/gun raid. The normal nightly gunshots haven't occurred, at least in our neighborhood. There have been more arrests and only 2 people remain loose. Maybe our town is turning the corner now.

I don't know if I'm taking the laptop with me when we leave, so if there isn't a post next week, don't be alarmed. I'll get it updated when we get home! Happy September (a little early)!

We're back to normal!!! Nothing earth-shattering went on this week.

School started so we've been waking up to the sound of the bus. The first comes at 6:45 and then 2 from different schools at 7:15.

We did go to Jonesboro to get my ring inspected finally. We also went to Hobby Lobby to get some yarn and I was really disappointed. They have cut the yarn section down to an aisle and a half, with very few tools such as needles/hooks. I've noticed that they have turned more into a home decor store than a hobby store. So, after we came home I ordered what I wanted to buy and it will be here Wednesday.

Bill's had several headaches this week, which is unusual for him. But, our weather has been bad as far as allergies go, so maybe that's all it was. I've felt bad most of the last few days with horrible allergy symptoms. I've noticed that when they get bad it affects the left side of my head/face. This week it was my left eye, left ear and the left side of my mouth with a lovely fever blister. But, no fever so I'm pretty sure it's just allergies.

Today is dull and rainy. It was very humid this morning and the rain started about noon. I'm hearing some more thunder now and a little rain hitting the window. A good day to sit and read or knit or watch movies...and we've done all of that.

So that's it...just normal everyday stuff. After the business of the past couple of weeks, normal feels good. Until next time, have a good week!

This week has been interesting. We've had tragedy, sadness, and excitement. I'll see if I can remember all of it. I probably should have started this post at the beginning of the week so I wouldn't forget anything.

Saturday a young woman was murdered in town, all for saying hi to her ex-boyfriend. Twelve more were shot in the same incident. A mob of 200 showed up at the hospital and it had to go on lockdown. Because so many law enforcement officers had to be called in, it finally woke the powers that be up. The state prosecuting attorney has instructed his prosecutors that any violent crime involving a gun will not be plea-bargained. Any plea will contain a stay at the penitentiary. Of course, the judges will have to follow through and the one judge we have in town has a tendency to be lenient.

Monday the father of a friend of ours passed away. He was also the grandfather of our former daughter-in-law. Her mother is very high-strung so it fell mostly to Mistie to get things done. So, I helped her get pictures and poems and such ready for the funeral. We kept Kayden and Kiyann for her while she had a class to keep her bus job for school. They are really good kids and weren't a problem. But, while they were here I spilled a full glass of Diet Coke only my laptop! So far so good, nothing seems to have been damaged, and since it was diet I didn't have to worry as much about the sugar in it. 

Emily told me early Tuesday that she had gotten a text from a co-worker that there were lots of cops heading into town. At first they were saying that there was going to be a 700 person riot downtown protesting the young woman's death. But, it turned out that it was a major drug/gun bust. They served 70 warrants and arrested 55 on federal felony charges. We even had the FBI in town along with the IRS CID. Bill and I went to a going away party for a former co-worker of mine at the office and while we were waiting for lunch to arrive we saw a SWAT van pull up, with 2 other smaller vehicles. When the doors were opened, they said FBI on the inside of the door. They were going to have lunch at the BBQ place across the parking lot! The IRS raided a prominent pawn shop and confiscated their computers for allegedly receiving stolen goods. The store is still open so maybe I need to see if any computers look familiar! The federal prosecutor has also said that they weren't going away. This raid was the result of 2 years of undercover work and they said, as if we didn't know it, that our town was a major stop on the drug scene.

Emily and I went to the funeral visitation Thursday night and they we went to the funeral. If you remember from back about a year, I had said I wouldn't put Bill through another funeral unless it was absolutely necessary. After just attending Ben's, I told him he didn't have to go to this one, especially since it was a military funeral. If was a very nice graveside service. 

Bill did do some walking this week, which he hadn't done for awhile and he said he could really tell that he hadn't been walking. Maybe now that school is starting, although I don't really know why since we don't have any kids in school, we'll both get back into some kind of routine.

So, the tragedy of another murder (this was #15 for the year I think in a town of about 15,000), the sadness of the death of a friend, and the excitement of the raid made for a full week. I also managed to get the baby sweater finished Saturday but didn't go to the shower. In my free time this week I added booties and a bonnet and I will take it to church tomorrow. If only Bill would let me teach him to knit! So, until next week...have a good one!

We've had a decent week, although I've discovered that when you turn 61 you become brain dead! And, no-one told me it would happen, perhaps because they are also brain-dead!

Saturday Kiyann called and wanted to come over. Of course Kayden wanted to come too and they asked if their step-sister Gracelyn could also come. Kiyann only wanted to come to play a new game she had downloaded on the tablet! But, they had a good time playing.

Sunday was pretty quiet, church and then home. Some friends came visiting at church so I was glad we were there to see them.

We had Kenna Monday so that her mom could register her for school. Got it all done but they didn't get to find her classes. She has moved up to where she changes classes every class now. We also went out to eat with them to celebrate mine and Kenna's birthdays.

Didn't feel good Tuesday. I don't know if I ate something or the weather or what but I just felt bad all day.

Wednesday we had to go to Jonesboro for Bill's labs. Since they were fasting labs, and it's an hour drive, we left about 7:15. The lab opens at 8. Just as we started pulling in to Jonesboro, I realized that I had left the paperwork at home, hence the reference to being brain dead! I called Stephanie and left a message for her with a fax number. She got back to me pretty quickly and a little after 9 we were able to get it done. Since I didn't have the paperwork for the other place we needed to go, we just had breakfast out and then came home. We beat the rain, but I was wondering if we would by watching how dark the sky was getting.

I found out yesterday that there is a baby shower at church tomorrow so I've been feverishly knitting. The pattern does work up quickly so it should be finished today. Stephanie called late yesterday afternoon and all of Bill's labs were fine, none of the strange numbers like before. So, he's good to go for another 3 months.

So, there's the highlights of our week. I could bore you with more family stuff, but that baby sweater is calling my name. Have a good week ahead!

 

We're finally getting things back to normal, I think. We haven't done much this week. We saw Kayden and Kiyann Tuesday and gave her her birthday present. It was more than we usually spend, but it was something she really wanted. The look on her face was priceless when she saw it. Of course this means that McKenna will get what she wanted, and the cost is the same.

Our weather finally broke this week. We got a lot of thunder and lightning a couple of nights, but no rain. But the front did lower the humidity some, and the temps are a little lower too. Things are going to heat up again in the next few days, but hopefully the worst is over for the summer.

We had dinner with Ryan, Amanda and Tori last night. Hadn't seen them for awhile. They've been going through some things and have pretty much had to deal with them on their own, not only because we were gone, but because we forced them to. I think things will be OK. Ryan starts a new job Monday, with much higher pay to start, and they've moved to a better neighborhood, so I hope things will work for them soon.

We have to go to Jonesboro this coming week for Bill's labs. We can go either Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. We're not going Monday as we're going to have McKenna. It's registration day for her for school and she's moving up to a new school where they will change classes. Her mom's going to take her on her lunch hour and hopefully they will be able to get an idea of where her classes are. Brianna registers Tuesday and she will be out of town. Hopefully there won't be a conflict this year and she can have the classes she requested when she filled out a schedule before school was out. But, Em will either call or text her if she has any questions.

Bill went birthday shopping for me today. I don't know if he bought anything or not. I guess I'll find out Wednesday!

All for this week. We've received many cards from friends and family concerning Ben and we are truly appreciative of all of them. The only news we have is that his killer was denied bail and will have to wait 1-3 months to request it again. So for now he remains in jail.

 

We made it through Ben's funeral and all of the travel. By Saturday evening, after everything was over we were both beyond exhausted. We were even too tired to eat dinner, although we had dinner after the service at the church, and you know how those go. There was so much food, and so much left over! 

When it was time for Bill's medicine that night, I told him to take it, took mine and we went to bed. It wasn't until the next morning when I got his morning meds that I discovered that he had not taken them. I assumed he heard me tell him to take them, but he said he didn't hear me. Since he doesn't think about the medicine, usually, it didn't dawn on him to take it, or ask if he had any to take.

He handled things pretty well. There were a few moments that overwhelmed him, but we made it through them. I had asked him if he wanted to start on some Xanax while we were traveling to just keep things on an even keel, but he thought he would be OK.

We got home yesterday afternoon, and in the late afternoon we found out that the man responsible had been arrested for murder and is to have a bond hearing today. We still don't know why and there is a lot of confusion about what happened. It was looking more and more like a gang initiation, but the shooter is 31 years old, so that confuses things even more.

Today we're trying to get things back to normal. Laundry is already going, something taken out for dinner, and now time to get everything unpacked and put away. I'm sure it will still take a few days for us to rest up, but the world moves on and things do need done. I also need to order Bill's meds today and buy a few groceries.

On a brighter note, yesterday was our granddaughter McKenna's 11th birthday, and granddaughter Kiyann's 8th birthday. A little happiness to offset the sadness.

So, that's it, a few very emotional days, but we were able to weather them. And speaking of weather, we have continued heat advisories so we'll just be staying inside for the most part. If you're also affected by this terrible heat, stay cool. Until Saturday...

I'm doing just a short post this morning, Friday, instead of Saturday. I'll do a longer one the first part of next week.

Our week has not been good. Our 21 year old grandson was murdered Monday night in South Carolina. We still don't know any details as we have not arrived yet to actually talk to anyone. We did meet with daughter Aimee and her husband Lee for dinner as they were on their way Wednesday, but there were really no details to know.

We have headed to Charleston and will get there late today. His funeral is tomorrow, Saturday. Please keep our entire family in your thoughts and prayers. Bill is doing well with this so far, but seeing his daughter Mary-Rose will be difficult for him/

I'll update this more after we get home, probably Tuesday, as we won't get home until late Monday evening.

What a week we've had! I came down with a little stomach bug Saturday afternoon that lasted into Sunday. It's a good thing I didn't attempt church, Bill hadn't even made it a block when I was back in the bathroom. It left as quickly as it came and Imodium and Pepto Bismol did nothing to slow things down.

Monday we started getting things ready for our trip, so we were busy all day. It was also hot again so anything we could do indoors we did.

Tuesday was laundry, Bill a haircut and packing. We had a storm come up in the late afternoon and it was a doozy. I stood at the window and watched our trees bend in half again. And again, they didn't break. But, as I was in the bedroom packing, there was a huge crack of thunder and several blue flashes and the lights went out. After the rain let up enough to see what was going on we saw that an old growth tree had taken a direct lightning hit and a huge branch broke and took down a branch on the next tree, knocking it and holding it against the power pole and lines. When we could go out we saw a line down on the side street. The intersection was almost completely impassable so our neighbor Joe started traffic control while I reported the power outage. We got the generator started, but since it doesn't run the air conditioner it got warm in the house. The storm dropped the temperature but it was so humid it was not pleasant. There was damage all over the west end of town and on the interstate a tractor trailer was blown over which brought traffic to a standstill of course. A crew from the water company finally came and pushed the tree branches out of the road but the power company didn't want anyone driving through. They were afraid that vibrations would cause the branches to fall, taking the pole with them. They put up some cones, but those did nothing to stop the traffic, so they finally put up some crime scene tape and completely roped off the intersection.

As I was cooking supper, Emily called and said that she and Bryan had been moving their utility trailer to start their generator when the trailer fell onto her foot and they were headed to the hospital. She asked me to meet them so that I could bring the girls to our house. Of course since we were leaving the next day I had nothing but eggs to feed them. I couldn't even take them to Sonic because they had no power. The result of Emily's injury...lacerations on her big and next toes, a bone chip in the big toe and a fracture in the next one. She has to wear a surgical shoe for 2 months. And, she has 2 back to back conferences to attend in Birmingham, 1 this week and 1 next week!

Bill called Johnny to tell him we were headed his way and he told us that his wedding had to be postponed. So, since his was the second one we decided to come home after Amber's instead of staying through the week-end.

The estimate for having the power fixed was midnight, and then noon the next day. A tree removal crew had to remove the limbs before anything could be done for repairs. Of course since we needed a good nights sleep, the tree crew showed up about 10 pm. We were happy to see them, although it made for noisy sleep, between the thrum of the big engines, the spotlights, and then the chain saws. They got the limbs down about 12:30, but all they did was drop them, so the street was again full of debris.

Our drive to Dalton, GA was uneventful. There was not much traffic until Chattanooga. We got there late afternoon and made arrangements to meet everyone for supper. Our hotel was next to a Cracker Barrel so we met there. I told them I wasn't driving any more that day! We had a good visit with everyone and I got a text that the power came back on about 8 pm.

The wedding the next afternoon was a different affair. The pastor informed everyone that they were just a bunch of rednecks. It was very small and didn't take long, but it served the purpose and got them married.

The wedding was overshadowed by the tragedy in Chattanooga, as our grandson was at the Marine base where the 4, now 5, were killed. And John, who was to pick Charles up, was 2 miles from there when Charles called him and told him to get out of the area. John had been running late, and if he had been on time, who knows what would have happened. One of the ones killed had been Charles' roommate, so he was really shaken up. He did cut his hand jumping over a fence, but was otherwise uninjured. John was finally able to pick him up that evening. There have been a lot of different stories and articles and opinions about this attack. Let me just say, from the mouth of our Marine who was there, all of the facts have not been released, for everyone's safety. 

We headed home yesterday after rush hour and decided to come home through the country. I had seen a sign on our way there for a route I knew, so we did that. It took about 3 hours longer because we had to go through several large cities and we were pretty tired when we got home.

As we were unloading the car, Bill fell out of the front door. I think he just hit the step wrong. He fell into a rocking chair on the stoop and then into the hedge. The chair actually helped break his fall, but he couldn't right himself. I got him back up and then checked for injuries. He cut his elbow a little and has a skin tear on his arm, probably from the door. He had a scratch on his face from the boxwood leaves, but other than that, nothing else. He was a little wobbly for a few minutes, but is fine now. He just went out to his treadmill. We've both done so much sitting we both a little stiff.

We're not planning on doing much today, and maybe not even tomorrow. We'll just have to see if we feel more rested by then.

So, that's basically our week. I'm glad we got to go to the wedding, and some of the groom's family couldn't believe we came all that way just for the wedding. I hope we'll be able to go back for John's but if not, so be it! And now, I'm off to the grocery store for a few supplies. Have a good week-end. If you are in the heat advisory area as we are, stay cool! If you're not, you're lucky. Our actual temp today is 97 with a heat index 105-109. Ah, gotta love summer!

This has been a trying week. But, it could have been worse, so won't complain...too much!

We had a gullywasher Saturday. For those of you who haven't heard that term before, that means it rained so hard that the runoff created a river. In other words, torrential rain. And, when I walked into the kitchen to do something, I heard dripping where I shouldn't hear dripping! So, it appears that we have sprung yet another leak in the roof. We're going to have to break down and put another new roof on. We both hate to spend the money, but it would cost more in the long run if we don't do it.

Most of the neighborhood enjoyed the 4th. The firecrackers started in the morning and lasted until well after midnight. There was so much smoke hanging around that you couldn't breathe if you went out. We found lots of bottle rocket debris in our front yard and driveway. The festivities continued most of the week...until all of the firework stands sold out.

We came out of church Sunday and had a window broken in the car. I think it was just a rock kicked up by a passing car. It didn't break completely through, and we wouldn't have even noticed it if I hadn't looked through the car as I was walking up to it. So, $300 later we have a new rear quarter panel window. Of course, since we had to keep at least 1 window cracked for 24 hours, it rained. But, I put towels down over the seat and over the window. It was a good thing I did. The carpet got a little wet, even through 2 towels, but it could have been much worse.

Our daughter-in-law's father was put in the hospital with congestive heart failure, so they were here from Wednesday until yesterday. We took them out to eat Wednesday night and they had to go home (they live 45 minutes away) to pick up Ryan's dad's dog. They were dogsitting for him as they were out of town. So, by default, we were dogsitting until late yesterday afternoon. She's a good little dog, a long haired weinie dog. I think she may have a little terrier mixed in. She let all the neighbors know that there was a new dog in town, and they better think twice about coming into the yard. She also chased all the cars away! They went home yesterday so that Ryan could work last night. Buddy was not too happy that someone else was in "his" house and played with his toys!

Bill had leg cramps again a couple of nights this week. I'm going to have to pay closer attention to his fluids and make sure he drinks more.

We leave Wednesday for Georgia for 2 weddings, a granddaughter on Thursday and then her father on Saturday. Bill really doesn't want to go, but John really wants him there so we are going. They are going to be really informal events and we'll probably spend most of our time at our hotel instead of visiting.

That's about it, lots of things going on, but nothing very earth shattering, just life. Have a good week. There may not be a post until late Sunday or Monday. I haven't decided if I am taking the laptop or not. So, don't worry if there's nothing Saturday. I'll get you caught up at some point.

This week has seemed very long for some reason, maybe because there was nothing going on. It was just another normal week.

I was able to have lunch with my best friend Phillis. We had not seen each other for a long time. She's been staying with her mother whose health is failing. Between worrying over that and trying to work in an atmosphere that has not been a good one, she needed a break. So, we had a 2 1/2 hour lunch. The restaurant was great as they didn't try to rush us out, just let us sit and talk. It did us both good.

Bill was up a couple of nights with leg cramps again. He hadn't had any for months so I think he was dry again. He's done better with water the last couple of days so maybe he's gotten enough fluid in his blood again.

We're going to have a quiet holiday. Not planning on doing much. We may bbq, as so many will be doing, but only if we can get the new grill put together. Bill went out to do it yesterday and when I checked an hour later to see if he was ready for lunch, we was sitting with all of the parts out but nothing put together. He tried telling me that the instructions were wrong, but it's just his short-circuited brain. I told him we would both work on it today. We won't try to watch the fireworks, I don't think. It's too crowded and the mosquitos are too bad. The neighborhood will get even noisier than it usually is, and the firecrackers have already started. Fireworks aren't supposed to be shot inside the city limits, but no one pays any attention to that, including the police. So, we'll probably find one to watch on TV, probably Boston or New York.

We're getting some new neighbors. They started moving in yesterday. Hopefully they will be better than the last ones!

I hope everyone has a good holiday, whether you celebrate or not. This was always a big holiday for our family as my dad shot the town fireworks show. He would build "set pieces" (ones that are not arial) in our garage and once he took them to whatever site the town was using he would not leave them. He would start shooting announcement bombs (the kind that just boom with no pretties) at noon and continue every hour. We would take a picnic supper out so that we could eat as a family before the show started. For the most part good memories.

Until next week...