Sunday November 16 2008

Monster Rock

One of my favorite rocks on the

way from the Ranch to Boulder

This was a more relaxing day. I really wanted to go back to sleep but haven't. I had lots of long visits on the phone - Bev and Deb, Sandra, Bonnie and Betty, so that was nice.

My project for today was to get the boxes of medicines, lotions, and all that bathroom stuff sorted out and organized so we can find things. It's now stored in small baskets in the hall closet. The hall closet is one of the strange things of the house. From the outside it looks very nice sized with two big sliding closet doors on it. However, inside the shelves are so narrow that hardly anything will fit on them, not even deep enough to hold a folded bath towel. So I decided to use it for a medicine cabinet or for anything small that doesn't really have its own place. That leaves another small closet sized place in the hall with a regular door for all the bedding, towels and linens.

There are a lot of nice touches in the house, and then..... in places you wonder what the builder could have been thinking of. Some of the kitchen cabinets are nearly useless they are so awkward and going back into a corner with no good way to put something in there or see what is there. The clothes rods in the closets are so high you need a stool to climb on to get the clothes up and down. Then the very narrow shelves are above that, so very little will I put up there when I need a tall step stool to get up there. I have mentioned elsewhere about the very odd outlets. And we had to ask for a kitchen light switch to be put in because the one he had installed was clear over at the back door. ????? As in you have to walk clear across the dark room to turn the light switch on. The drain outlet for the washer is halfway up the wall - that really looks ugly and it comes out of a hole in the wall - I suppose mice might find their way in to there as well around the natural gas line for the dryer. (we got an electric dryer so not using the gas there.) We're making a "punch list" that will all be corrected at once - when we find everything that's wrong.

Well, Joe wanted to have dinner this afternoon at the Cajun place. He had just eaten lunch when he told me and he wanted to go right then. I said no it was too early and we'd just eaten lunch, so when dinner time came and I said let's go, he said it was too cold out. Maybe we should go out to dinner at noon if this is going to happen. So then he wanted an omelet and that's what we had for dinner. And some strawberry shortcake.

There was another really pretty sunset tonight. It was a lot nicer out today, very little wind, and the dogs stayed out a good part of the day, seeming to really take in all that was happening in the neighborhood. Had to wash their feet again today, but used the big bowl for it instead of the bathtub. The ground sure isn't drying up here like it does at the ranch. If I don't fall asleep, I'll download the pictures I've been taking all week - not nearly as many as I usually get. But we'll see if there's anything worth using on the blog.

All the missing days are blogged now if you want to scroll on down for them.

Wednesday July 9 2008

Older Photo of Muddy Canyon from the Yard

WEDNESDAY MORNING - - UPDATE ON TUESDAY TRIP TO JACKSON ETC.

People have been asking how I'm feeling lately so decided to write and whine about yesterday's experience. Got motion sickness on the bus, and had to start drinking the barium drink as soon as I got to Oncology, which gives me humongous gas and diarrhea before I get it half down. Then they took me to the scan at 1:15 and after that was able to order a turkey sandwich lunch to go (couldn't eat much of that either) and back onto the bus. I thought I wouldn't make it back to Pinedale without having an accident, but did - in misery. I've lost 6 pounds since yesterday morning.

The Oncology Dept. will call me after the Dr. sees the scans and then tell me what is next. I may go back another day this week to start another cycle of chemo. They gave me a prescription for some motion sickness pills to take when - IF - I ride the shuttle again, and gave me one fennegren? tablet there, so didn't get so upset coming home. Besides that I've had a headache for over a week - maybe because my eyes hurt so bad and sinus gone crazy. Don't know if its allergies or what - have had it all along, but this is worse lately.

I didn't get time to make any phone calls on the new cell phone like I wanted to but did get part of the blog done - still haven't made a call on the new cell phone

The bus got back to Pinedale about 3:30 from Jackson, and Al, the driver, let me off at the mechanic to pick up my car. They had repaired everything. He said I would soon need a new set of front tires, but they are o.k. for now. I drove immediately over to the restroom in the park. Felt so awful almost didn't grocery shop since I thought we were going to Garrett's funeral and could have shopped today (Wed.) but Joe says he doesn't want to go, so we're staying home. So luckily I decided to go ahead to get the groceries yesterday. My prescriptions weren't ready and I didn't want to wait. I saw 4 people in the store and had nice visits with them that I truly enjoyed and didn't worry about taking the time. Still had a couple of hours until the meeting but felt so sick and woozy etc, that I didn't want to wait and just came home. It wasn't one of my better days for sure. At teh store they didn't get my milk into the cart and we're out of milk. I am mad about that. - and I'm sorry I didn't make it to the Community Center meeting at 7 p.m. like I planned.

The brand new bus is one of those mid-sized shuttle types, bigger than a van and smaller than a large bus. It probably will carry more than a dozen people and has a hydraulic lift for wheel chairs at the back/side. Kind of a big white box with those tall windows. It is provided by the hospital and our local Kickin' Cancer organization. The air conditiioning wasn't working and heat was coming out the vents - Al said it was going to be fixed the next day. There was no fare to ride. That is a great plus, since each trip has cost about $40 for gas.

Only one other person rode the bus, Julie from Pinedale. She was in a wheel chair and said she has MS. She gets an infusion of a new kind of drug that has halted progression of her MS. A few other people she knows have had the same good result with it. It doesn't fix anything she previously had though. She isn't totally wheelchair bound, and can use a walker at home. Feeling the way I did while riding I didn't visit with her as much as I would have liked, so I hope I see her again on a better day. Other than that we had to appreciate what a beautiful day it was. I saw about ten elk grazing across one of the fields coming in to Bondurant.

They have made progress on the pipeline they are putting alongside the road through the Hoback Canyon. I asked and its for natural gas. It's a mess now, but hopefully it will be smoothed and reseeded so it won't detract from the beauty there.. We had to stop for perhaps 10 minutes each way on a one lane section where they are working. There was a lot of traffic, trucks and RV trailers. The Snake and Hoback, and Pinedale's rivers, were brimbull but not flooding. They aren't as muddy as a couple of weeks ago either.

As soon as I got the groceries put away, I crashed into bed with no dinner. Slept fairly well, even though got up the usual number of times in the night and kept having leg and foot cramps. About midnight had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a banana. I feel much better today.

Apparently there is a meeting of the small painting group on Friday at Rendezvous Pointe. There is another meeting for the Pinedale FAC at 10 a.m. then too. I will plan on going to those.