Lynn's Lines: 11/2007

Friday, November 30, 2007

Friday November 30 2007

Martin building the terraces at Plumnilly, Betty's home in Mesquite.

The walls will be stuccoed and painted a terra cotta color.

3:30 a.m. I seem to be awake. Let the dogs out and there is a new dusting of snow out there. They are sitting on the porch howling with the coyotes. We're supposed to have a 20% chance of snow for several days. It doesn't feel very cold though. Joe's up too making ovaltine, so I think I'll have a cup of tea.

Joe spent quite a while this morning working on the snowmachines, and they are all ready to go now.

Have felt better today but still such a feeling of indigestion etc. I didn't do too much but rest and make some lunch and dinner. Made burger boats - baked zucchini stuffed with hamburger. You could also call them zu-canoes. I know I did a little more organizing but can't remember it being anything major. Put more "stuff" for the second hand store into the car to take to Jackson Monday. Had a bunch of phone calls, that helps the day go by without much being accomplished, and several nice cards as well. Debbie called and has ordered a swivel sweeper and a chop wizard for me. I think I'll like them, especially the very lightweight sweeper. I can't push the vacuum for a while yet. So.....Something to look forward to.

Betty sent some pictures of Martin building retaining walls on the slope near the garage, and they look awesome. This is an ongoing project fixing up her yard. She still has Cody and is liking him a lot. He is beginning to learn to leave Kitty Kaitlin alone. Jackie also called and we had a nice visit. They are going to Vegas for the National Rodeo Finals in a few days.

Sorry for a very dull blog.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Thursday November 29 2007

Part of the Pottery Collection on the Bookshelves

Another cloudy day and a few snowflakes fell. Cold enough that all of yesterdays little bit of snow didn't melt.

Joe went into town this morning to get his blood test and stayed in for lunch. While he was gone I got my pottery from the big cupboard over the fridge and various other places and arranged it on the empty bookshelves. I don't totally love it, but the shelves aren't empty anyway. It looks pretty nice anyway. Judi and I arranged that she will go along with me to Jackson on Monday. After Joe came home I started organizing the pantry which had gotten so bad I had no idea what was back in there. I used the empty cupboard over the fridge to give more space for spreading everything out a little. I threw out all the paper plates, cups and plastic silverware I have been hoarding but never using much for years. So that gave most of another shelf. It looks a lot better. I made us a very easy dinner.

Well the stomach ache continued all day and still going into the night. Pretty sure its bad indigestion and gas. Its way too painful. Maybe when I go to Jackson Monday they can help me with that. Sat under the shower for a while to relax. So here it is 2 a.m. and I decided to get a couple of paragraphs written.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Wednesday November 28 2007

Nube and Bobbi Nap Outside the Studio

This morning dawned cold with a brilliant blue sky. It gradually clouded up a little more and got more windy all day, but stayed mostly sunny. The horses came up and stood by the studio window to get out of the wind.

Could not get to sleep last night. Guess I was just too wound up, and also had eaten too much of the wrong thing so the digestion was painful. They said I would learn by trial and error what I could eat. By 3 a.m. I went and sat in the warm shower again and took some tylenol and after that was able to sleep. I stayed in bed until 8:30 or 9 a.m. until the phone began ringing. But did have a relaxing morning. Joe is still getting his own breakfast, which he likes to have before daylight. He vacuumed today too. I cleaned out the fridge, and that looks a lot better. We'll be able to have some easy leftovers tonight.

This afternoon Judy from the cancer department at St. John's Hospital in Jackson called and said my first chemo would be next Monday at 11 a.m. It has been set up by the Huntsman. I will see a doctor first. It's somewhat intimidating to know I'll be starting on this new kind of regime, but will begin to see how that all evolves.

Not much else of interest to report. I'm going to pay the bills then I might watch a movie to get in the calm zone.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Tuesday November 27 2007

A cloudy morning. We're supposed to get snow today, not sure how much. And pretty cold. It's been between 0 and 10 or so in the mornings lately. We did get an afternoon snow squall. It didn't amount to much and had half cleared up by night.

Laurie did arrive by 8:30 with boxes and in about 30 minutes she had the rest of the books packed and ready to go to the museum. I still have more books than I seem to want, but its not more than I can manage to do something with later. Joe kept back a few he wants to look at.

I planned to get my hair washed, but too many phone calls before, and through the day, and the painting group arrived soon after 10 a.m. We had a great visit, first with coffee and cookies, then into the studio to begin a little artwork. We needed to carry chairs back and forth from the kitchen to the studio and back, but there were enough desks and tables for everyone to work o.k. They brought lunch of potato soup, and peach cobbler both made by Kay, and Melita had gotten up before 6 to make out of this world fresh rolls and cookies. We had a good afternoon painting session, and ended the visit in a special prayer blessing. I was so appreciative for that amazing friendship and support. They also all promised any kind of help. Kay helped me by hauling away a bunch of stuff for the second hand store. Debbie packed my car with more that I will take soon.

Special thanks for the nice and enjoyable day to you all.

I have had such an outpouring of offers for help in any way, driving me to Jackson for chemo, and good wishes and very many suggestions for different kinds of cures, it's almost more than I can absorb. I will also say here I'm so grateful for all the cards and phone calls and for being the subject of so many prayer lists, in four temples and a mass, and everyone praying. It is unbelievable and very appreciated.

Ruth made us two yummy pizzas, and we had the small one for dinner with a salad and put the second one in the freezer for later. It was then I realized had kept her pizza pan so must make sure I return that later. So that was easy. Thank you dear Ruth.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Monday November 26 2007

Debbie left early this morning to go home,and called this evening to say she had gotten there about 6 p.m. They were going out to dinner. This will be the first day that we're back to being on our own without Debbie's help. Before she went, we got the sheets from her and my bed washed and later Joe helped me put mine back together, and then just went in the blue bedroom and made the other one by himself. He is really being helpful and considerate.

Had a sort of busy phone day. Laurie said they would be here at 8:30 tomorrow morning to pack up the rest of the books. Kay called to confirm that five of the artists will be coming out tomorrow and bringing lunch. Sandra called and I always enjoy visiting with her. I had left the laptop connected to the Internet when the phone rang, and when I came back it was locked up. I had to read the book and found how to get it to turn off thank goodness. I don't think I could face another broken thing.

All day I was on the verge of getting into the shower but here it is 10 p.m. and I still haven't gotten there. I fixed us some lunch and my inspiration Nancy came over for a quick visit and brought a care package. We had a good visit. She is such a caring person,

Today I did get some more painting done, and the one I'm working on is nearly all blocked in with the second layer. I can work on it more tomorrow.

About 5 p.m. Howie drove up into the yard to load up their bags and boxes of items Debbie had packed for them. Joe asked him if he'd like to have a sandwich with us and he did stay. I made Rueben's with fries and salad. After dinner I thought I'd lay down for a while to rest and had the nicest most relaxing nap. I did about 10 minutes of walking laps around the kitchen/hall/living room. Raven walked with me for a while then decided she'd wait for me at the kitchen door since I didn't seem to be going anywhere much. Maybe I'll go now and get that shower.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Sunday November 25 2007

A cold morning, about 0 degrees. I never even went outside today. But it was mostly sunny and very little wind. Tonight another full moon is shining brightly.

Joe was up at his usual pre-dawn time. Debbie and I got up at almost 8. We had some breakfast and then our main project was to finish getting all the Thomas' nieces and nephews heirloom stuff packed up. We did a lot yesterday and the rest before lunch. There has been stuff in nearly every room and every closet so it was a challenge to dig it all out. Debbie climbed up to all the top shelves. I sat at the table and wrapped up all the dishes and she packed them into boxes. And then the job was done. Debbie took all the bags and boxes out to the garage to store on the shelves until they could come and get it.

Even though he had said last spring that it was o.k to do this, Joe had a hard time with seeing things going out of the house that had been here since his childhood, That was a little hard to overcome, but I think he's pretty o.k. with it when he realized its the right thing to do, and also to think about what might happen realistically in the future if it wasn't taken care of.

Yesterday Debbie called the realtor in Maui who is in charge of the condo that Jan offered to us for a week in January and explained to her that we wouldn't be coming there. It might be a really stupid thing to pass up such a great opportunity, but I just can seem to face making that kind of trip. Also I likely will be in the midst of treatments once a week. It is a major undertaking to travel and fly out of here when I'm well, let alone being sick and in the middle of January. So.... We're not doing that after all.

Debbie cleaned up the house and other housework. In the morning she'll change the sheets. Then she is going to start home. I will really be sorry to see her go. Have so much appreciated her care and help. I have also enjoyed being with her for over a month.

Today I put out new paint on the palette and began to work on a painting - a commission - I want to finish.

Charm and Betty called today and we visited for a while. I called Phyllis and thanked her for having Joe to dinner and sending us over care plates. I forgot to mention that my grandson Justin called us yesterday, so it was good to hear from him.

Then this evening Joslyn called and said Howie and Jacques would be here tomorrow afternoon to haul away all the boxes Debbie packed up. It will be nice that they don't have to do that packing.

I didn't feel as good today as yesterday, and maybe I did a little too much yesterday or maybe I'll just have ups and downs for a while until the healing is complete. The Dr. said it would take two or three months to be back to feeling normal.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Saturday November 24 2007

Today was pretty busy. And the good thing was that I felt fairly good, and although Debbie was doing the heavier work, I was able to be up helping all day without getting tired. She did all the heavy lifting. Hope I'm not going to have to crash tomorrow, but it doesn't feel like that now. Debbie is the one who must be very tired.

Debbie and I first started boxing and bagging up the things for Joe's nieces and nephews that was their grandparents and have been here in the house all these years. We're not quite done with that and will finish it tomorrow. There's quite a bit of it. At last it will finally be off the shelves and out of the cupboards.

When Debbie went into the metal shed to get some boxes, Raven got locked in there all morning. We started missing her about noon, so Joe went searching. That is as long as that has ever happened to her and she was sure glad to get out. I think she ate all the cat food though. She never made a peep or cried so we would know where she was.

Ruth and Gary Shriver brought their horse trailer and took all the frames away this morning. Don't know how many I had but a lot of different sizes, and we trashed some more that were really junk. Probably some that they took will also be junkers, but I sure do appreciate them hauling them off. If I need something back, as in finish some painting(s), I will be able to go get a frame at their place. They brought the last of my new pieces that had been being framed. I didn't tell them, but after they left and I looked I sure liked the frames they put on the artwork, especially the bighorn ewe and lamb. Ruth brought me a present of goat's milk soap, she said its like bathing in cream. I can't wait to try it. They had coffee and rolls with us before they left and we got to visit a while.

Betty and Beverly called today. Beverly called from work and was having to make up time for missing four days when she came to SLC by working on the weekend. Betty said another of our high school friends, Linda, was coming up to Mesquite from Overton to have lunch together. Betty has gotten a new dog who is up for adoption and it looks like a chocolate lab and Rottweiler mix. He is really pretty and his name is Cody - 89 pounds. She is "fostering" him, to see how they get along. She and her helper Martin are really getting a lot of renovation and remodeling completed. Lois also called later.

Next we went out to the garage and started cleaning out the shelves after Gary and Ruth took the frames. A whole LOT of stuff was taken out of there, and we rearranged the boxes of my packed up artwork into better order. There are now about 5 or 6 empty shelves. At some point I also have to (or want to) dispose of the art supplies, lots of canvases etc. etc. etc. that are stored there in the garage, but in the meantime I plan to continue painting.

We heard the dogs bark and I went out and Helena and Jonita had stopped by while they were out working on Helena's homestead project. They had been finding the locations in our area again. We talked for a while and Helena took a photo of our outhouse that is the only remaining original building on this place and she took a GPS reading on it. When I came in I found that they left us some candy and a jar of cleansing cream which I'm anxious to try. Thanks, dear friends.

Debbie burned all the trash and cardboard we cleaned out of the garage and that took her quite a while too.

Kay called and said that our Tuesday painting group wanted to come over next week and bring a pot luck and visit, maybe paint if we decided to. I thought that sounded like a pretty good plan.

I'm watching White Christmas and realize I've never seen it before. And me, the movie buff.

Today was clear and cold, with the wind coming up in the afternoon as usual. We've had some beautiful sunsets lately and the full moon rising about the same time. Well I think I'm ready to lay down for the night

Friday, November 23, 2007

Friday November 23 2007

Joe went into town for a hair cut and his blood tests and had lunch in there. He had to get a letter notarized and get in the safety deposit box.

Well, a fairly boring day, and have been up all day too. I'm feeling better than yesterday. Am only taking the medicines twice a day now, at first it was four times a day. So that's progress. Same old trouble sleeping, but when that is happening and I sit and go through papers, throwing a lot out, and watch TV. Talked to several friends on the phone, Edis called today and Marilyn last night. So great to hear from everyone. I also made some calls.

Curtis helped me download the last batch of photos I've taken into the laptop down in SLC so we looked at them all on "slide show" this morning. Maybe soon I'll slowly be able to add them to the blog in the right order. Today Debbie helped me a lot again. We cleaned out my closet and dresser drawers, pared down to what they should have been on my simplifying campaign long ago. Before I couldn't part with stuff that was still pretty good, but its easy now. I also went through my jewelery and that's at a much more sensible and meaningful level. We kept at it most of the day.

Debbie loaded the paintings I'm sending for Curtis' Rotary auction into her car. I'm sending some of the family photos home with her to be shared so nothing will happen to them. If I want them back I can always get them.

Debbie made us a good salmon dinner tonight. We're doing fine.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Thursday November 22 2007

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I'm so thankful for my family and all my friends. You have been so wonderful and supportive and I'm grateful for each person. Thank you for all you've done and for being a friend. I'm thankful for our country and for our soldiers who are so far from home on this special family day. I'm thankful for the special place where we live, and our community.

And thanks very much for all the prayers, so many prayers from all over, the many cards and messages.

We are awake in our room pretty early today, so Beverly is showering and getting ready to go. I'm just going to dress and go the way I am. We won't leave until 8 or so probably. I'll sure be sorry to see the others go home, but so glad we were able to spend a few days together. So thought I'd sit and get the blog for today started. I went to the lobby and got Beverly some hot chocolate and me some tea. It was pretty quiet down there, the front desk people having some cereal and watching TV. It should be a nice enough day to drive home, just cold. I'm glad Joe will be going to the Mayo's for Thanksgiving dinner. But now I'm also thinking that we will be back in time to go too. Not sure that Debbie and I will just stay home though and not surprise Phyllis with guests she wasn't expecting.

We ate breakfast at the hotel and then said goodbye to Beverly, Clayton and Tayler. They got back to Vegas just at the same time as we got to the ranch. We stopped at the Walmart in Evanston again to get fresh vegetables, milk and such. It was still early there, but by the time we got to Kemmerer we began to look for a place to have a little lunch. The whole way everything was closed, ....or as is usual all along...non-existent. We checked out each town with no luck and finally ended up at the last mini-mart before home where they had a subway and got a sandwich.

By then I was pretty hungry having eaten about a dozen frosted mini wheats hours earlier. Debbie pulled into a small picnic area on the New Fork River to eat, then on to home. Joe was just leaving for Phyllis and Bill's, so Debbie got the car unloaded and I got most of the groceries put away. That involved cleaning out the fridge. I found some scary stuff in there. Then we both took a rest for an hour or so. Joe came home and Phyllis had sent us each a plate of her turkey dinner, which was so nice of her. The dogs were sure glad to see us. I gave Joe the details of the doctor appointments as clearly as possible. We need to decide what to do next. I'm sure he's worried about me getting too sick for him to take care of me here. Tomorrow I'll try to call Deanne for a visit. We did get the medical reports and I'll make copies for our different doctors. Then will decide a plan. Debbie might go home tomorrow or Saturday.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Wednesday November 21 2007

Today the appointment with the oncologist was at 10:40. We had a little of the hotel's continental breakfast, and all went over to the Institute again. This time we got into an exam room right away, but the the oncologist was behind and we waited for a while. A young man who introduced himself a social worker came in and talked to us for some time. I think he must be a psychologist, and he was pretty nice as well as helpful. All the different people there each have a different job, and all say the same thing. If we need anything in their expertise or need information we should call them.

Dr. Jones was VERY good to spend about 2 hours with us explaining all the options of chemotherapy, very thoroughly and so we could understand everything. She had a new pathology report, apparently since we spoke with the surgeon yesterday, on the tumors and had a much more grim prognosis - three months without chemo and 6 months with. It involves driving to chemo once a week for 7 weeks and then a week off, after that chemo once a week for 3 weeks and a week off from now on. She says the kind they use (I'll tell you the name later) doesn't usually make you sick, until you start getting sick from the cancer itself. The cancer is stage 4 which means it has metastasized from the original tumor to another organ. I won't be "cured". The head oncologist Dr. came in for a bit to explain more, He was also very helpful with the information. I didn't notice it but Beverly says he got very emotional telling me the prognosis. I know he looked away several times, but she said he had tears.

The choices of where to have the chemo done are: to drive to for the chemo there at the Huntsman Institute (more than 5 hours one way - would have to stay over night), or to Jackson (about 2 hours - no overnight), and I will be looking in to possibly being able to do something closer to home. Or another option is to stay home and not do anything. I don't want to drive to Salt Lake that much during the winter. Of course actually I don't want to do it at all. Joe and I need to talk. I never got him called today because we got back to the hotel late and I decided just to wait to talk to him at home.

We were done at the Institute about 2:30 or 3 and went to Chilis for some lunch, then back to the sporting goods store - Dicks - to buy that coat for Tayler. It is in a very new design type of mall, it was awesome. I think the name of it was Gateway. There is a big parking garage and condominiums are towering above the multiple outdoor levels of walkways. I'm glad I got to see it. It's way downtown. Then back to our hotel. Since it was so late when we ate our late lunch we decided not to go out to dinner, but I did bring my leftovers home and had another 1/2 a fajita this evening with my medicine - need to take it with food.

A little later I went to the lobby to get a cup of tea and saw Linda again. I had just been thinking of sending her and Greg an email or something, but didn't want to disturb them at their room. She said Greg was pretty tired and was having some reactions to the radiation/chemo, but doing o.k. Tonight he was able to eat a little, but lately had lost quite a bit of weight. They had four days off because of the holiday weekend, so he will be able to rest.

Curtis came and showed me how to download the photos out of my camera into the laptop and we fooled around with that for a while. The photo card slides right in to the side of the laptop, or I could use the camera cord.

We will leave for home in the morning, Curtis, Tayler and Beverly back to Vegas and Debbie and I to the ranch. It has certainly been a special time for them to be here with me during a difficult time. And very very much appreciated.

Tuesday November 20 2007

It is a good thing Debbie, Curtis and Tayler are getting to spend these few days together. They went shopping downtown for a while and found a warm coat for Tayler. She is going to the University of Nevada Reno next year. I'm pretty sure she doesn't realize how cold it's going to be there in the winter. She picked a "cute" coat and mom and dad wanted her to have a serviceable "warm" coat, so they didn't buy anything yet. Being the granny I told them I thought they should buy her the cute coat and the warm coat.

Last night I had one of my worst nights since the surgery. I have to take back what I said about the turkey burger. I'm having a hard time finding something o.k. to eat off a menu and will be glad to get back home to have meals there. I'm pretty sure this digestion thing is going to be a problem I'm going to have to work on. There was quite a bit of pain and I'm pretty sure it was just being very consitpated, hope I'm not sharing too much, but it hurt a lot with the surgery not being quite healed up.,....I think. The pain could be a couple of other things too. So barely slept all night and finally gave in and took an oxycodone, the first one I've had since the heavier pain meds in the hospital. It did let me get to sleep in the early morning hours.

We all got up, had some of the hotel continental breakfast, and got ready to go to the Dr. appt. together. Tayler got to look at her eyelids for a while longer (she stayed in the room while we went to the Institute for the appointment.) Debbie called Iris to see if we could get together, and left a message, but she never got back to us. At the appointment they took us almost immediately into the exam room after getting the weight and blood pressure.To make a long story shorter, the doctor sounded much more optimistic than after the surgery and even mentioned possibly having as long as 10 or 15 years. I respect him very much but it has been like that each time he's talked to me, things change each time. We were able to ask Dr. M all our questions and he spent a lot of time answering. So we left feeling much more optimistic that when we saw him right after the surgery and daily in the hospital.

We went to the Chuck-A-Rama for lunch, but even though I tried to be really careful and eat small, I still had stomach trouble for another day. Beverly and I came to our room for the afternoon and had naps. The others went shopping. That night they all took me to the Spagetti Factory for my birthday dinner. It's in an old warehouse setting with a bunch of other shops and restaurants, pretty neat but getting worn out and in disrepair. I ate there years ago. Beverly gave me a beautiful family memory scrapbook that she had made. What a lot of work she put into it. And Debbie gave me a Happiness angel figurine, I loved them both. The card was wonderful too. I think the fettucini I had was not too rich and was comforting to my stomach, but I still didn't eat much. The waiters and waitresses brought me a birthday dessert and the whole restaurant sang happy birthday. WOW!! WHAT A THING. There were also two other birthday groups so they were all in a festive mood.

After that we checked out a neat Christmas/holiday theme shop. Debbie bought some nice decorations. I loved seeing all the variety of beautiful and colorful things. They also bought carmel apples and SLC old fashioned taffy that they made right there. Then we went "home" and I laid down and went right to sleep for a while, just plain out of exhaustion. After that was up and down all night and watched a lot of TV, tried to drink water to keep hydrated as much as possible. Actually not a lot different than a lot of my nights, but I'll be glad to get home.

On this day Joe had another 1000 gallon propane tank installed for the furnace. That should get us through any winter without running out.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Monday November 19 2007

We left home this morning about 8 a.m. Stopped at Kemmerer for gas where its about the best price between home and Salt Lake. Stopped again in Evanston and got the things we needed on my Walmart list. Pushed my own cart again and Debbie pushed hers. So was able to actually shop, put things into and out of the cart at the checkout. We got down to Salt Lake some time after noon and had lunch at Fridays. I made a good discovery, that I could have a turkey burger with the trimmings on a whole wheat bun and it wouldn't be fatty beef. It was actually quite good. As we came into our hotel, The University Guest House, Greg and Linda were sitting in the lobby/lounge area and I visited with them for a while. He must be into about his third week of chemo and radiation together. I just can't imagine his bravery going through all that he has. He got a box of photos he had taken on his 6 week trip to Alaska to show us. What a trip he had. He says he loves it up there. Another artist Erin from Wilson who I had not met before, had driven down to meet them and Greg said she is a good artist. She seemed like a nice person.

We got to our rooms about four p.m. and rested about an hour. I called Joe to let him know we got here o.k. Curtis, Tayler and Beverly got on their way from Vegas about one p.m. to meet us here. They should be arriving soon now. Beverly and I will share a room. Debbie and I walked over to the Peterson Heritage Center, where there is a big campus dining hall and got some dinner. Lots of college kids, so was interesting to see what that world is like. All the hospitals are on the University of Utah, including the Huntsman Cancer Hospital and Institute. My appointment for the checkup with Dr. Mulvihill is at 10 in the morning. Then we will have the day together. I'll let you know what we find to do.

Well, my laptop is wireless here and I'm finding I don't know enough commands with the little finger pad to do all I can with the regular mouse, so will have more learning to figure that out.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Sunday November 18 2007

A pretty good day with some sunshine most of the time. For whatever reason I woke up too early and finally just got up about 5 a.m. I got several more days of the missing blog done. So by now - about 9 p.m. - I've been up steady a long time. I feel better today than I have for the last couple of days. I guess I can expect to have ups and downs.

This morning Debbie put the mulch I had for the new flowerbed into the barn to be stored until spring, since I never did get that flowerbed finished. It has been sitting out by the wagon for a couple of months. She pushed the ATV forward to the barn wall so Joe could get in to the hay he has stored in there.

I had a lot of phone calls today that I really enjoyed, Joan, Esther Marie, the Heninger's, Betty, Gloria, Pat, Charm called yesterday to tell me how the SCAG meeting went, and Sue. I'm going to get spoiled with all the attention. Phyllis called while I was in the shower but talked to Joe. She invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner (and is she a wonderful cook),but he told her Debbie and I wouldn't be here. We will be driving back from SCL that day. So Joe is going to go over and have dinner with them. That is very nice. Thanksgiving is his favorite dinner and he seemed a little disappointed that we wouldn't be having it on the right day. We got the turkey and all the trimmings, but won't cook it until maybe Saturday.

This afternoon Nancy, Melita and Lois came over for a visit. That was a nice thing too. We had coffee and lemon cookies. Melita brought me a birthday present from Tennirife (sp?) - a silky dark blue wrap (like a robe but not quite) with dragons embroidered on it. It folds up really small to pack for a trip.

We did some laundry and got out suitcases packed so we can just take off in the morning. The weather is looking better than it had. The Salt Lake channels had said a storm would be coming in on Monday, but it's looking like it won't get there until Monday night, and will be pretty good again by the time we come back on Thursday. I didn't want Debbie to have to get stressed driving down through a snow storm....being a desert rat. Curtis, Tayler and Beverly are driving to SLC from Vegas to stay with us. Debbie will get to be with her family for a while, and Beverly will stay with me. I'm looking forward to having a birthday dinner (mine) and Thanksgiving dinner with my family. I don't know how many years it has been since we've been able to do that.

Even though I'd been up a long time I took a walk about sunset with the dogs. We had a beauttiful sunrise and sunset today, lots of reds. Debbie made us an omelet with vegetables, toast and some sausage for dinner. It was pretty tasty. We've been watching some good programs on Discovery Channel. I'm about ready for bed tonight.

I'll try to blog every day we're gone if I can.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Saturday November 17 2007

It's overcast today, not too cold though and calm. It misted rain for a while later in the afternoon and evening.

Today Buckshot came over again and dug out the old one and built a new cesspool for the laundry room effluent water. It doesn't go into the septic tank. He got here about 10:30 a.m. or so and went right to work. He is certainly fast and a hard worker. Dug the old one up, made a lot bigger hole and dumped a dump truck full of rocks in it. Then covered and smoothed it over. First went heavy tarp over the rock, then some dirt smoothed over that, then new Styrofoam sheets, then all the dirt smoothed over that. He was done by 12:30-ish. I went out and took some photos of the way everything was put together underground for Joe, in case he needed to refresh his memory later. I felt like that was one walk for the day. Debbie made some sandwich fixin's and Buckshot came in for lunch.

The horses always have to investigate anything new that's been done in the yard, so they spent a while out there giving the ground a thorough going over. Nube is a lot more curious than Bobbi. Bobbie just waits and watches close by. This time Nube was surprised by the soft dirt and nearly fell down. It spooked them both, but she continued cautiously on. When Debbie did the rock garden over in the front corner, she really checked that out too. Our herd in the mountains always noticed every little change on the trail. The lead horse would check it out thoroughly before they would pass even one kicked over rock or a stick in a different position.

Joe burned the garbage this afternoon. He put the old foam dug up from the covering for the old cesspool into the barrels. From the studio I heard a sound like something hitting the house and went to the window to see what had happened. There was apparently an aerosol can in the trash and it exploded and threw fire around a pretty big part of the surrounding yard. Debbie was outside and said a grapefruit shell went flying by. She went to help Joe get the small fires out, and she melted her cute NB slip ons a little. Joe quickly moved his yellow truck back from the garbage barrels where he had pulled up to unload the Styrofoam. I watched from the back window. Fortunately nothing got out of control, and we laughed about it later.

This afternoon I mostly rested, and then later did some laps around the living room - hall - kitchen for several minutes to get another walk in. I wasn't feeling quite as good yesterday or today. I've been blaming it on the flu shot. A quiet day for me. But Nancy called and said she, Lois and Melita are coming over for a visit tomorrow afternoon so that will be nice.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Friday November 16 2007

Cloudy and cool. Another quiet day. Debbie did laundry. Joe is helping her quite a bit. He had a sore eye today After he had it 3 days without saying anything he did finally have me call the eye Dr. about 4:30 in the afternoon- i.e. Friday evening and the weekend coming up. He had to sit with warm compresses on it and it felt better by morning, thank goodness.

Debbie packed up the broken computer and took it in to Pinedale to be shipped to Best Buy. The theory is that perhaps if they work on it the one more time, and really go through it good, and it breaks down again I'll get a new one. They told me they replace them after three repairs. Well, we'll see about that. I'm sure they are trying to get out of it. They are telling me its the software not the computer and they aren't responsible for the software. While she was in town, Debbie got a few boxes to pack stuff in and some newspaper for wrapping. She drove around a little to look at the kind of property that is available. Then went to have lunch at the Chinese place.

Yesterday afternoon I walked another 3/4 of a mile while Debbie was fixing dinner - game hens with wild rice - and felt stronger than the last time. I know I'm supposed to be doing about 4 walks for 5 minutes each, but with putting on all the coats and actually getting out of the house, I've theorized that a 20 or 30 minutes walk is just fine. I'm up and down all day and walking around puttering more all the time. We kind of agreed that I'd stay quiet and not trying to do much until after the Dr. checkup, but I'm getting more in the mood to do a little bit all the time, so I do a few small things. I'm still feeling better and stronger every day.

The dogs are laying in the house a lot more lately, rather than running around outside. Sparky has a hitch in his get along when he first gets up from sleeping or laying. He is getting older, 10 or 11 now. He may need a little joint or cartilage supplement. Raven has taken to sleeping on the couch at night. I think she gets cold. But she is going to have to sleep on her bed. Joe is still feeding the cats. I catch a glimpse of some of them once in a while. Traveler had been out in the middle of the field and we saw a rough legged hawk hovering and hovering above, but later I saw Traveler again so guess he escaped.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Thursday November 15 2007

Very nice day, sunny and coolish cold. Lois called this morning, Betty later. Took it easy today. Maybe feeling a little reaction to the flu shot, or just needing to rest after a long day yesterday. I'm stretching out the time between the pain pills more than I should I suppose. Not paying attention to how long it's been since the last ones, so had a little more pain than I have had. Debbie and I walked down the lane and back about 3/4 of a mile. I paid bills, checked the bank statement, and the credit card statement. We went out to the garage and changed the frame on a painting. Debbie finished up dusting and straightening the book shelves and cooked our meals. Nothing much to write about.

Well....we do have a little excitement going on. Cousin Jan and Jim have a friend who has a condo right on the beach at Maui and Bev Deb and I are invited to go stay for a week in January as their guests. We just need to fly over there. It is an awesome, marvelous offer and almost unbelievable. We need to have the doctor checkup next week and see the oncologist and find out if there is any reason why we can't do the trip and then decide.

Remember some time back I said they were putting in a gravel pit down at the river, and 80 trucks a day would be hauling gravel to put in passing lanes on Hwy 191 to Rock Springs. Well they have begun to rumble by 3 or 4 at a time all day long now, a tractor pulling two trailers. I don't know how long that will be going on. We're most of a mile from the road and its still disturbing our peace and quiet a lot.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Wednesday November 14 2007

Another 5 degree morning but its very clear and sunny. I'm sitting with a hot cup of tea and honey to do a little more catching up on the blog. Joe has an appointment at the dentist to get that tooth fixed today at ten in Big Piney. The oil field traffic on that road is terrible now.

Debbie has been thinking of going to town and we remembered that the doctor said for me to get a flu shot. I thought the shot clinic was on Thursday, but when I called the Public Health Nurse Office, where we get our shots taken care of by Medicare, she said it was today. The morning session was over, but the afternoon time was from 1 to 4 p.m. So we got ready, left a note for Joe, took the dogs and drove in to Pinedale. There were deer along the way with a big buck among them. Had lunch at the Chinese restaurant, got the shot, picked up Joe's tarp and chain at the Museum from yesterday's book load, went to the Library to see the Mixed Media show that they hung on Monday. It is a nice show, and I saw my just framed artwork hanging there for the first time. Ruth did a beautiful job framing everything.

A funny thing happened when I came out of the Nurse's Office. I checked the parking lot not expecting Debbie to be back yet, but there was her gray car with the Nevada license plate, so I walked over like a zombie and opened the front door to get in......and it wasn't her. It was some man sitting there using his front seat for an office. He said that "Helll oOo?" thing, and I was so flustered. Explained his car and license looked just just like my daughter's.

We shopped for groceries where I pushed the basket, got gas - guess that's about it. We got everything for Thanksgiving dinner since we'll be gone to SLC and then driving home on on Thanksgiving Day. How's that for luck. We will have our dinner maybe about Saturday. The only thing we didn't get was the whipping cream.

Curtis calls every night and when he heard we went to town he thought Debbie must be shopping. I said "Shopping?? Shopping?? There is no shopping in Pinedale!! He is thinking he's saving a lot of money with her being here.

We saw Melita at the art show and got to visit with her a little bit, which was nice. I had some new pieces in the show that the friends picked up at the framer and hung for me - Thank You Guys!! The show looked great.

Joe was home when we got back. I crashed and took a nap - it was the biggest day since coming home. Debbie put the groceries away and soon fixed us leftover spaghetti for dinner. A pretty good day.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Tuesday November 13 2007

Today started off very cloudy. It was about 5 degrees. Then before noon the wind came up strong and we had a sprinkle of rain. Beautiful yellow crescent moon setting in the west just at dark tonight.

This morning Laurie got here about 8:30. I was sorry to hear that Millie had the flu, so she didn't come. Laurie and Debbie started right in packing books into boxes. I mostly supervised. They worked until about 11:30 and had pretty much everything I wanted to send to the Museum of the Mountain Man library loaded into the boxes. They took them out on the dolly to Laurie's truck. Joe found a tarp and helped cover everything. He also helped them load it all. After all these years he insisted there were some things he wanted to read, like Charlie Russell, so I kept some of those back for him. There are more art books left here on the shelves. I wanted some to refer to or leaf through, which I enjoy doing sometimes. Those can go sometime later. This has been a plan that the museum and I have had for perhaps fifteen years now. They already have perhaps a couple hundred of the books in "The Lynn Thomas Book Collection".

A few miscellaneous books that aren't appropriate for the Museum will go to the library book sale. And a few other things I want to give away to others. Debbie and Beverly are going to share the recipe books. The scrapbooks of various kinds, and all the slide photos are left. As well as four four drawer file cabinets full of my organized and indexed reference material. I've been clipping and saving pictures since I was a kid, and like most things have been obsessive with it. But that is something I have enjoyed doing all my life. The slides will also go to the Museum. I have about 75,000 slides, taken before I started doing digital. Then I got the digital camera and never looked back.

Debbie did a feng shui thing with the books and "knick-knacks" that were left, so the shelves actually look much more peaceful, calm and not so overwhelming and crowded. I told her when more of the books are gone that I'd probably like to put some of my pottery collection on the shelves. That should be a nice change.

Debbie made us a nice pork chop, rice and zucchini dinner. I continue to feel better every day. I have only small discomfort, although sometimes I do get to itching and that's not nice. I stood and checked the books as we worked this morning, and didn't get tired until toward the end. We're talking about taking a trip in to town one of these days.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Monday November 12 2007

A gorgeous sunny morning. Powdered sugar frosting on the hill tops. About 10 degrees early this morning. Debbie's a busy bee with cleaning, changing sheets and going to make spagetti for dinner. She's taking the mail out to the box for a short break and getting out. She had to scrape a lot of ice off her car.

Joe has gone to town to get a letter notarized and will take the old blue chair to Fred. A lot of the guys go to Fred's snowmachine shop to have coffee around the stove so that's a good place for the extra chair. Kind of reminds me about the men sitting on cracker barrels around the wood stove in the olden days. Well he found out after he got in to town that the bank and post office were closed, so that means we won't get mail here today either. We had all forgotten about this being the legal holiday.

Today is a step in recovery by starting to take my pain medicine every eight hours instead of every six. I've been stretching the time longer between doses for a while now, so this is good. Today Debbie and I went out for a real walk, not far, but the first one since I've been home other than just wandering around. The dogs loved it. I am supposed to be walking 5 or 10 minutes three or four times a day. I tried yesterday, but it never quit raining.

Tomorrow Laurie and Millie are coming to pack up a lot of the books and may stay for lunch.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Sunday November 11 2007

THANK YOU ALL OUR VETERANS. WE HONOR YOU ALL WITH GRATITUDE AND WE PRAY TO KEEP THE SOLDIERS SAFE.

Slept until 8:30 which felt very good, and was more relaxed this morning. It was very cloudy so that helped allow sleep - no brilliant light coming in the windows. Not sure when it began but it was raining - not snow here in the valley yet - but it rained all day with snow flurries. There was no snow on the ground here. You can see snow sticking just up past the base of the hills. And the clouds veiling the rocky hills raised and lowered for different views of the landscape, the changing panorama.

I fixed my own breakfast this morning, some cereal with a banana, quite an accomplishment. We're looking for something to do for today. I've been writing thank you notes, and am almost finished with that. I need more stamps, so will put a check in for a roll of stamps and Debbie will take it all to the mailbox. And we have egg cartons to give Cami for her chicken eggs.

Going through drawers and files throwing out papers. It's something good to do right now that doesn't take much effort. Got the Visa card question straightened out, and printed a bank statement now that we can go online, so will be reconciling that maybe tomorrow. I'm getting in the mood to do some painting.

We took naps yesterday afternoon. I like to get comfy on stormy days and that was probably the best sleep I had since going to the hospital. Debbie deserved a rest. She's been like the energizer bunny.

Saturday November 10 2007

It was a little more cloudy today and gradually the wind began to blow with more clouds. We're supposed to have a chance of snow during the next few days, but the storm should be weak.

Slept fairly well, but as usual have wakeful times. Wrote some on the blog in the night, slept some, watched TV some. But by 5 a.m. seemed to be awake for the day. I got a shower and actually dressed because Sandy planned to come over today. We invited her for lunch and Debbie made a pot of soup with some muffins for us. We had such an enjoyable visit and it really perked me up. By later afternoon I'd been up a long time so laid down to rest a while. My sister Gloria called and we talked for about an hour. Then Suzy brought us a delicious meal and it gave Debbie a break from cooking too. She and Lars had thoughtfully made a pork loin braised in milk with salad and whole grain rolls. Very yummy and much appreciated.

After dinner Debbie packed up the shelf of recipe books that she will take and share between she and Beverly. I kept only a few, and those included some that should go to the museum with the rest of the book collection. It made a small dent.

Joe is doing good, helping Debbie and has been giving his old Chevy a tune up. He's also enjoying his chair.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Friday Afternoon November 9 2007

Today was a beautiful cool November morning. It got up close to 50 and not much wind. After breakfast Debbie began to take down and pack up the art show in the barn. She did a great job. She had taken the boxes over yesterday and when she was finished she used the wagon to haul the boxes over to the shelves in the garage and store them away. Nube and Bobbbi supervised along with the dogs. I walked out and watched for a while, sitting in a lawn chair in the sun. Then came in to the house. Debbie chose about five pieces to take down to Vegas to be put in Curtis' Rotary Club Auction, so we will see how that goes.

I started going through a box of old taxes gleaning information that might be helpful in "The Book". We turned the walker into a support for a large yard trash bag to hold the discarded papers.

Debbie finished changing studio light bulbs. I had a nice visit with Ruth on the phone today and tried to call Gloria but they weren't home. Had a nap this afternoon.

Friday Morning November 9 2007

I'm back with a new laptop, courtesy of my son-in-law Curtis who put it together for me. Still getting used to it. (It's an HP Compaq 6510b.) My other computer is still lifeless, and holds all my files, photos and address book. If you happen to check here on the blog, you can email me now - still at lmthomas@hughes.net - and I can reply once I get your address again. If there wasn't a message sitting at the server, I don't have anyone's address at the moment. The computer will either be sent back to Best Buy in a few days or I'll have someone local working on it.

I do have some photos taken in the last month or so in the camera to download, but it's going to take some time to get going with that again. The laptop has Microsoft Office and Photo Elements 4 installed, so that is exactly what I have in the other computer. I'll get them downloaded and put some photos with the blog entries.

Six weeks have gone by since I last blogged. I'll gradually catch up on events of the past days and let you know here on the blog what has transpired lately. The news is not all good. I'll write more soon.