Friday January 2 2009

This is the PICC line. Some people answered

yes, they wanted to see it. If you dont, just

scroll past it quickly. The fluids go into the blue

thingy on the bottom left, which is a connection

for the syringes. The purple line goes

into my arm at the bottom of the white pad,

The white adhesive pad holds it in place

with "wings"that clamp it there. It's covered

with a clear adhesive square. Over it all I

wear a soft knit elastic "sleeve" which keeps

it all in place. It's not uncomfortable.

Melita made me this hat for a gift. And I

just love it, especially the tweedy color.

It has a spiral twisted design. Hank made

the pom pom!

Two blooms on the Amaryllis now.

Morning coffee - Nanny says it is a woman
Artfully dressed in a One Shoulder Gown
and hat over her forehead.
YESSSS!! I do see her.

But she's gone now -

I drank the whole thing.

Joe went to his coffee klatch this morning. I've been down to the clinic this morning to learn how to give myself the Lovenox shots, and figure I can do it. Everyone that I talked to who knew or had done it themselves said the needle was very little, but it was bigger than I imagined. Wish I didn't have to do it. It didn't really hurt though, so if I have the nerve to stick it all the way in to my stomach fat, I'll do fine. It's one of those "just do it" things. My cost of the Lovenox was $250. I'm not quite sure whether medicare and insurance paid part of it or not.

After going to the clinic I drove over to Melita's to visit her and her family was still there. Leslie's family and Karen's son were going to White Pine skiing. So Karen, Melita and I had a cup of tea. Leslie's little girl is 3 but sure seems older than her age. Dillon is 14 now and getting really tall, a nice boy. It was fun to see Karen again, and Melita too. She knitted me a wool hat, and I was short on warm hats. My head gets cold with the thin hair now. Thank you very much Dear Melita.

I went to the P.O. and then checked out the new Obo's meat market - bought some sausage and hamburger which I don't have in the freezer. It looks like a very nice selection of meat and the other things they have - cheeses, lunch meats, seasonings, a little dairy selection and some produce. And then to Ridley's for groceries. It was warming up so much that the streets are thawing. I had 35 degrees on my car thermometer.

This afternoon I took a little nap then went back to get the picc line flushed. That went quickly. Barb took the photo for me. I wanted to take boxes to recycling but it was closed. Then took a loop down Lake Road to see if there was wildlife and I bet I saw a hundred deer in there. Took a few pictures of quite a herd going down one of the streets and eating the landscaping in some of the yards. I'll put those on tomorrow.

It was sunny when I laid down for the nap, but within an hour it had clouded up and was lightly snowing. The temperature on the car thermometer was 35, and clearing snow off some of the roads into puddles, a real January thaw. When I got back home I shoveled the four inches of new snow off the back deck. As soon as I got back in the house it started to snow harder, then for a while it was so thick you could hardly see across the street ..... and windier. Not sure what tonight will bring since we're under the winter storm watch. It's supposed to get quite a bit colder by morning.

Here is a link showing where an avalanche came down on Teton Pass and the WYDOT is clearing it away today. It says it was 50 feet deep on the road and the bulldozers were on top of that.

http://www.pinedaleonline.com/news/2009/01/WYDOTtacklesTetonPas.htm

All the Words to Auld Lang Syne

.

AULD LANG SYNE

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old times since ?

.

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!
And surely I’ll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

.
We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

.
We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.

,
And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give us a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

.
For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

.

Thursday January 1 2009

Charm's road

.

DEAR FRIENDS AND FAMILY,

I WISH YOU MANY BLESSINGS,

GOOD HEALTH,

AND MUCH HAPPINESS

IN THE COMING MONTHS.

.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

TO ONE AND ALL
.

Oscar Wilde said,

"Good resolutions are simply checks

that men draw on a bank

where they have no account."

.

Charm's Deck

These are a couple of photos that Charm took

of that last snow over Christmas -

I think on the morning they took out their vehicles.

I hope she doesn't mind that I'm using them for today,

because they are so beautiful I thought you would enjoy them.

Well, Here it is New Year's Day. Surely there will be football on TV all day. Am missing the Rose Bowl Parade by writing on the blog instead. About midnight it started to lightly snow - tiny little flakes but by afternoon was coming down harder. Perhaps more than an inch has fallen and so far there is no wind. Yesterday the radio was saying that we were on a storm watch, so we will see what that amounts to. And it's supposed to snow for the next week!

Did I say that Joe and I hadn't been out celebrating New Year's Eve in at least 40 years? Last night we went to dinner with Charm, Bob and Gina, and Megan and Dave at the Stockmans. Jim sprained his ankle snowmaching (something about riding off into a ravine??) and he stayed home. We missed you Jim. Our reservation was at 7:30. But the torchlight parade must have gotten over with sooner than they thought it would and they all stopped by here about 6:30. I was on the verge of changing but wasn't dressed yet. Charm changed out of her ski suit and I got myself dressed. Joe had been ready for a while - he was smarter than me. We drove downtown, had great company and a fine meal. Was disappointed that the prime rib was already all gone. But Joe and I had the fillets and they were very good. I just can't do justice to a good meal any more but enjoy the heck out of it anyway. And the boys love the leftovers. We said lots of "Happy New Years" and got home about 9:30. It was enjoyable and fun.

Be sure to check Gina's blog for her great pictures of the torchlight parade and a couple of all of us at dinner. The link to her blog is up there on my sidebar - on the top right.

I said I would tell you what's next with the health issues. Today I take the last dose of coumadin before the small surgery to take out the port next Tuesday. Tomorrow morning I have to go to the clinic to learn how to give myself Lovenox shots in the stomach. I will do that twice a day for a week. Somehow it helps to keep the blood from clotting while not using coumadin, but also reduces the chances of bleeding in the surgery. The drug flyer says: "This medicine is used to prevent and treat deep vein thrombosis (blood clots); complications of unstable angina; and certain cyocardial infarctions (heart attacks) in patients taking aspirin). There should be no bothersome side effects. etc." Will also keep going to the clinic for the picc line flushes, or do that myself when they are closed. (Today I'll do it myself.)

Then next Monday Bonnie is going with me to Jackson. I have an appointment with Dr. Menolascino in the afternoon. We will probably be able to do some touristy things up there, go to a few galleries, eat in restaurants, maybe shop. We will stay overnight at the Hospital's motel, The Hitching Post.

Tuesday morning I have to be at oncology at 8 a.m. They'll get me ready for the surgery to remove the port. It is supposed to be quite minor. It will be in the operating room with anesthetic. At first they were saying it would just be in a room with no anesthetic, but they changed their minds. They probably didn't want to listen to my commentary while they are working. I have a little bit of nerves about it, considering how putting it in went. But I'll be very glad to get rid of it. After the surgery I'll get my chemo treatment and we'll come home - and pray I don't end up having to stay in the hospital. Seems like they slap me in the hospital every time for one reason or another. I will very much appreciate Bonnie being with me during this time. BTW I've had none of that awful pain this time since they didn't use the port.

Neat story from Sandra:(hope the link works - I had trouble copying/pasting it).

http://www.trib.com/articles/2009/01/01/news/wyoming/7a7b6eb3950119a887257530007a1507.txt

Wednesday December 31 2008

Pine Street, Pinedale's Main Street

Showing how they clear the street by shoving it into

the middle. Eventually the piles of snow will be hauled

away in big dump trucks and they do that in the middle

of the night. If they plowed it all to the sides, you

wouldn't be able to get on thesidewalks. Obo's

is where I buy gas. Also where the new meat

market is. And the Parking Lot at the Grocery

Store - The road you see on the Hill in the

background of the parking lot goes up to our house.

NEW YEARS EVE

Another Year Gone By

What color is New Year's Eve? I am just glad that the daylight is getting longer. I didn't write yesterday, seemed like there was never a time to do it, so am squeezing it in today in stages. Anyway yesterday I put in the history about the massacre at Wounded Knee so you'd have something to read on the anniversary of that horrible event.

TUESDAY: It was warmer and sunny today. That sure helped to clear off the roads some. Joe went to the ranch to feed the cats. He said there was about 7 inches of snow out there, and drove right in. It was good for him to have something to do while we had our painting meeting.

Our small Tuesday painting group met here at our house yesterday. I made some lunch - Shrimp Linguine, salad, zucchini, sourdough bread and key lime pie. I had done all the food prep the evening before, so it made the meal easier to finish up. Kay, Wanda and I were the only ones who were here the whole time. We had a productive day working on art. Anyway, I had a very enjoyable day and worked on a pastel piece that I already had started and was happy with the way it went. A few more times working on it and it might be finished.

Charm dropped by after her haircut in the morning to say hi, but she didn't paint or stay for lunch. They are snow machining in and out of their place now. They got their vehicles out on Christmas morning. I guess they snow machine to their vehicles about seven miles.

About 3:30 we quit our meeting and I went down to the clinic. This was the day to get the dressing changed and protime for coumadin. The protime level was good again. It took a while for Barb to change the dressing because she needed to keep running for supplies to some other room. But she made the way it sits on my arm much more comfortable with no adhesive tape. That was getting annoying. All is covered with a knit elastic "sleeve" about 5" long. If you want me to take a picture of the picc line, I will.

Since I cooked a dinner at noon, I made us clam soup with salad and the french bread for dinner. It was plenty. Very tired again and went to bed to watch TV right after dinner was cleaned up. If I did any thing else of importance, I forget what it was.

WEDNESDAY: Today another blossom on the amaryllis plant popped out. The flowers are so beautiful! Joe went to coffee and took the dogs with him early this morning. He saw his niece Joslyn down at Ridleys. And he bought a really sturdy snow shovel which we needed badly. While reading email I had some yogurt with toast and tea, and then Bonnie called and said they would be in in about 45 minutes, so I got out of my pjs and stuck some of those canned cinnamon rolls in the oven for us to snack on.

Craig and Joe worked on putting in a surge protector that would protect the well pump from burning up and the rest of the house as well, into the breaker box. There will be a little more work on that because I think Joe said they need a couple more breakers before it would be done. They also went down in the crawl space and hooked up an electrical outlet to plug in the heat tape that was put on the pipes. The heat tape seems to have solved our water freezing problem. But Joe had put a really ugly and l - o - n - g heavy duty extension cord from down there and plugged it in his bedroom. So we were able to get that out of the house after they got the new outlet in the basement. Also they had gone to Rock Springs, Walmart etc. yesterday, and picked up the right kind of surge protector for my laptop and the new printer. Bonnie got behind the desk and got that all plugged in right. I'll probably be able to use the wrong surge protector I bought somewhere else. Next time I'll read the box better. We still need a short phone connection. They said they have one I can use.

Bonnie and Craig were going to go skiing for a few hours. They may have been here longer than they intended though, so don't know if they did or not. We are only about 15 minutes from the ski hill at White Pine. Bonnie and I fixed some potato soup for lunch and they joined us. More visiting.

As they were leaving Joslyn came over to visit. She has some days where she needs to wait in town, just kind of hanging out. So we had a fun visit with her, mostly about horses. She raises a lot of colts on their place in Nebraska.

So that brought me up to time to head to the clinic for the picc line flushing. I stopped in at the post office for our mail and received my prescriptions that had been mailed from Smiths in Jackson. (I'll tell you more about that tomorrow. ) Then filled up my nearly empty tank with gas and got some copy paper and a 3 hole punch for my " organizing the papers on the house into a notebook" project.

Tonight is the torchlight parade at White Pine - they ski down after dark from the top of the hill carrying torches and Charm is going to ski in it. Probably tomorrow there will be photos on pinedaleonline of the torchlight parade. I asked Charm how we would recognize her. Then Charm and Jim, Gina and Bob, Joe and I and whoever else can come, will go to the Stockman's for dinner. I know for certain Joe and I haven't gone out for New Year's Eve in over forty years. So that should be very enjoyable and fun.

Remember I said that there were some earthquakes in Yellowstone a few days ago so now they have counted more than 250 and said they were located beneath Yellowstone Lake. I'll keep you posted, or you can go to http://www.pinedaleonline.com/ and look for that headline for more information.

Yellowstone National Park was jostled by a host of small earthquakes for a third straight day Monday, and scientists watched closely to see whether the more than 250 tremors were a sign of something bigger to come.

Tuesday December 30 2008

Joe Shoveling the Back Deck

Not in the mood for writing, so will catch up tomorrow. Stuck this day in history so you'd have something to read. The book "Black Elk Speaks" is a very good account of this era in our past.

Today is the anniversary of the massacre at Wounded Knee, which took place in South Dakota in 1891. Twenty-two years earlier, the local tribes had signed a treaty with the United States government that guaranteed them the rights to the land around the Black Hills, which was sacred land. But in the 1870s, gold was discovered in the Black Hills, and the treaty was broken. People from the Sioux tribe were forced onto a reservation, with a promise of more food and supplies, which never came.

Then in 1889, a prophet named Wovoka, from the Paiute tribe in Nevada, had a vision of a ceremony that would renew the earth, return the buffalo, and cause the white men to disappear. This ceremony was called the Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dance scared the white Indian Agents, and they moved in to arrest Chief Sitting Bull, who was killed in the attempt. The next leader they focused on was Sitting Bull's half-brother, Chief Big Foot. He was leading his people to the Pine Ridge reservation, seeking safety there. But it was winter, 40 degrees below zero, and he contracted pneumonia.

Big Foot was sick, he was flying a white flag, and he was one of the leaders who had actually renounced the Ghost Dance. But the Army didn't make distinctions. They intercepted Big Foot's band and ordered them into the camp on the banks of the Wounded Knee Creek.The next morning, federal soldiers began confiscating their weapons, and a scuffle broke out between a soldier and an Indian. The federal soldiers opened fire, killing almost 300 men, women, and children, including Big Foot. One of the survivors was the famous medicine man Black Elk, who told his story to John Neihardt in Black Elk Speaks (1932).

Sunday December 28 2008

Here is the new desk with the laptop and the file cabinet in their own area. The wireless "thingy" is hooked up there - sits next to the lamp. The black book looking "thingy" is my external hard drive. This is quite a roomy spot in the living room, behind the sectional. And this arrangement still gives way plenty of space for the living room area. This is about the last place to photograph and show you how the house is looking. I asked the furniture delivery men to move the file cabinet to this corner, because I had filled it with all that goes in there. They seemed to be glad to do it, but said it was heavy - I wasn't surprised and glad not to have to move it myself.

The family gave me a printer for Christmas and it is sitting on the file cabinet now. (I will hook it up in a few days - I probably have enough to do for a few days and want to have a quiet uninterrupted time to do the printer. Even with the laptop there are still lots of cords stuffed down behind the desk. There are places that need artwork or decor hung on bare walls, but still thinking about what will go where.

Last night I made some phone calls, and especially enjoyed talking to my sister Gloria for a while. We had a good visit. She had a bunch of her family visiting over Christmas and they had left earlier in the day. I tried to call Iris and didn't get her so will try another time. This afternoon I talked to Betty Pfaff and she had some great skiing stories to tell.

Today, as usual when I get up, I had lots of plans to get things done during the day, but as much as I would like doesn't get done. I got the dogs brushed and they enjoyed that very much. Raven made it clear she didn't want me to stop. I did vacuum - after brushing the dogs. I'm planning on having the small art group come over on Tuesday and will fix us some lunch. So need to get the house cleaned up some.

Guess the Power Company had enough complaints about them turning off the power in the coldest part of the year to put in new equipment, and they are now going to wait a few months until they do that. Good thinking!

Can't believe it's nearly New Year's Eve and a new year coming up. Well, better go get a "shower" and ready for watching some TV and bed time.

Saturday December 27 2008

TALK ABOUT HISTORY!

This is a photo Betty had of my high school

girlfriend's wedding. Me on left. then Doreen and

Dick, and my first husband Mike. We were

matron of honor and best man.

About 1958

'
'

Guess too much hasn't been accomplished (by me) today. Scott came to plow out our garage door this morning about 10:30 this morning. He did a nice job. And said he would come back again every time it snowed about 6" and/or blew. He also shoveled off the steps by the driveway. So we're set for a while I suppose. I will gradually get the snow off the deck, at least so the dogs have an area to sit out there, but not until the wind quits! It was supposed to have been about 20 below last night. It didn't feel too bad when I opened the door in the wee hours to let the dogs out. And wow! I was looking back in the innards of pinedaleonline and see that there have been at least six earthquakes near West Yellowstone today, from 2.5 to 3.5. I didn't feel anything. It probably happens more than we hear about.

So..... I only barely got the car out in time to get down to the clinic and get my picc line flushed before they closed - they are only there until noon on Saturday. I'll do it myself again tomorrow. Joe asked if I wanted to go to lunch, which meant he would like to. So afterwards we went to the brewery, renamed Wind River something, and I had soup and salad and he had a BLT with salad. I brought most of the salad home, it was so huge. Perhaps lunch tomorrow.

I've been shopping on line for an economical tall pull on pair of winter boots. It sure does take a lot of time to do that browsing. I wish it were easier to compare, but I've just been making notes of styles and stores. Makes me think I'll make do with the waterproof warm "boot/shoes" that I have. Shoes and socks are getting real hard to get on anymore, as well as coats and pullover things. I also checked out the http://www.drycorp.com/ waterproof cover for the picc line Bonnie found, and asked Barb at the clinic how it sounded to her. She thought I should try it, so I'm going to order that. It's supposed to keep the site dry in showers and such.

Charm reminded me -there will be a "planned" power outage throughout the area tomorrow (Sunday) from 2:00 until about 4:00 P. M. I guess the power company is replacing some major equipment. I hope it doesn't last longer than that. Wonder why they don't plan those things in the summer?

I finally got the carbon monoxide monitors out of the boxes and batteries in them. They have major instructions to read - I'm about half through that. So far they aren't going off - so I guess we're safe from CO now.

Betty called for our weekly visit. She sent me the photo above - she and her Aunt Ann are looking through her old photos. And she inspired me to do the photo essay below because she wanted to see the plows and plowing etc. - so scroll on down for some new pictures.