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

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

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

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

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

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

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.