Yardwork, Healing & Family...

Tuesday, June 27th, my major goal was to cut the grass. While this should be an easy thing, I find it exhausting. I often wonder if my little covid episode left me a little less strong in my lungs. Could be because I am really out of shape. However, I told Claude I could do this if I could do it in pieces. My intent was to get the front yard cut on Tuesday. If I ran out of steam, I would do the back yard on Wednesday. I dressed appropriately, went to the shed and set up the lawn mower and went to work cutting the front yard. When I finished it, I went inside, rehydrated and rested for a bit. Then, I went outside and tackled the back yard. Turns out, that was the right way to get it done. The back yard had trees and offers shade. The front and side yards do not, so the sun adds to my difficulty. I was so happy to get both the back and the front done. There was no edging and I did not blow the grass away from sidewalks, patio and driveway. Just got that grass cut.

On Monday, I noticed this mushroom by my little petunia. I thought it was so pretty.

When I cut the back yard, I was pleasantly surprised that the mushroom had opened up and there were more around the petunia. Nature at its best! 

Wednesday, June 28th, my outside chore was to chop up all the limbs and trees that fell in the previous rain/wind storm. I got those done and in the garbage. Yeah me!! 

While doing this, I noticed that the mondo grass along our stepping stones up the little hill now have little flowers down in them. Splendid!

I had an afternoon appointment with my ophthalmologist. Dr. Richardson is very good. He thinks really, really quickly and speaks at that speed as well. I have to listen carefully and try to translate the technical words he is using to layman terms. I have total confidence in this doctor. I did that awful clicker test watching the little lights with one eye covered. This time I noticed a darker area when I tried to see all the little tiny flashing lights. I explained that to Dr. Richardson. I also told him I have had a few times when my vision was fuzzy. I am used to seeing clearly except for reading and close work. For that, I wear readers from Walmart. These episodes were not long and are very random. Not even once a week. My vision is not unlike what I was experiencing with the drops he had put in my eyes. This set Dr. Richardson to work. He was almost giddy trying to figure out what was happening. The clicker test was markedly worse that six months previous. He was already concerned about what that was about. My eye pressure is good. He carefully checked the optic nerve and retina. He did some kind of prism test that refracts the light so he can see more clearly into the eye. He asked if I had albinism in my family or macular degeneration. Nope. I will now go back in a month for another of those awful clicker tests to see if it was a fluke. And, he increased my eye drops to help with eye pressure issues. 

Thursday, June 29th, my outside chore was to put new dirt around the mondo grass on the hill by the stepping stones. I also added dirt to the two flower planters that blew over during the storms. Claude asked if I could use the left over dirt to fill in the spots on the hill where I tried to grow ivy and the grass has not quite filled in. So, I did that as well. I was a mite dirty when finished but felt very good to have the things done in our yard. It was difficult for Claude to watch. He is very much the man that wants to do these things so I don't have to. I appreciate that. I assured him that when the tables have been reversed and I was healing from surgery, he did my things and his. We have a reciprocal agreement. 

Friday, June 30th, I looked out our bedroom window to check for rain damage. I found that my Lucifer plant was in bloom. I love the color and shape of this plant. I purchased it several years ago at the Kroger in LaGrange. They grew enough in Sadieville that I would have a nice burst of red flowers for a while. I brought this one plant with me from Sadieville and this year it put forth this amazing bloom. Let's me know it is healthy and will send up more plants as the years go by. Makes me happy. The clematis on that side of the house has set forth its next bunch of blossoms. Be still my heart at this burst of purple!! I posted this on our family Facebook page about these flowers: ""A thing of beauty is a joy forever" ~~Keats  Or...at least till the petals fall off. Unless, of course, you take a picture. Then, you will see it forever."

Katelyn posted this great picture of our Raelyn in her new glasses. Raelyn has one eye that pulls to the center. The glasses help this eye stay in the forward position. Raelyn is a beautiful little girl and she wears these glasses well. 

Our Marx family is in Greece. We had a Trivial Pursuit question on June 23rd that read: "Geography: Where's the famed Arch of Hadrian?" The answer is Athens, Greece. It seems the Marx family arrived in Athens and their shore excursion has them drive right past Hadrian's Arch! The van driver had Wifi and Andie sent us a picture from the drive-by and then from the back. (Andie and Michael).

In the birthday department, our grandson-in-law had a birthday. I posted this picture and comment on our family Facebook page: "One of the times I appreciate Drew the most, is watching him love his children. Happy Birthday to Daddy Drew!!"

Saturday, July 1st, 2023, it seems the lead article on the front page of the Georgetown NewsGraphic was about Georgetown. According to Fortune.com, they rated a city in each state as the best in which to live in that state. Georgetown is the one for Kentucky. It is 32nd out of 50. But it is first in Kentucky. Yeah Georgetown!

Remember those tooth fairy pillows I made for our great grandmonsters. They were just in time. Raelyn lost her first tooth! 

Sunday, July 2nd, I was able to substitute for the chorister in Sacrament Meeting and to play the piano in Primary. I do love music.

Claude looked out in the backyard and saw something that didn't look quite right. I put on my shoes and went out into our yard to assess what was wrong. We have had major storms with lots of wind and lightning. I learn that a branch on our tree had split in the middle. It wasn't broken off. It was simply split in the middle and couldn't support the weight. 

I sent a text message to Jon Zimmerman with the pictures. He trimmed the trees when we first moved into our home and cut the grass our first two summers. I explained the problem and asked if he could fix it. He assured me he could and would come Monday morning. We had medical appointments through the day. He quoted me a price and Claude wrote the check. 

Monday, July 3rd, we were up and out of the house early. We were at the hospital at 7:40am for an 8am procedure to be done on Claude. When we returned home, Jon showed up as promised and that branch was cut and drug to the front yard so quickly I had to hurry to get a picture of Ryan carrying it out to the front of the house. The branch is a goner!

I would then go to my dermatology appointment. The sad news here is the precancerous spot on the end of my nose is still not right. Dr. Wilson has burned it off twice. Now he has prescribed a chemo cream to be applied twice a day for two weeks. This will cause a lovely red spot that will have to heal. I should be absolutely stunning for a while now. My advice, wear sunscreen!!

In the afternoon we had an appointment with Claude urologist, Dr. Slabaugh. He assured us all the cancer was gone and Claude would have to continue recuperating for a few more weeks. He can drive again and begin to do what he feels capable of. He has a stern taskmaster for a wife who will monitor that to be sure he doesn't over do as he continues healing. So very happy with his progress and the good work by Dr. Slabaugh.

Tuesday, July 4th, Independence Day. I woke up before Claude. Actually, it was 6:30am. Way too early for a holiday. It was a good thing because I was able to text with our Andie. The Marx family is in Europe on a cruise. They were in Greece and some of the islands. They experienced three things that fit in our family history. 

First, while on the ship, they experienced a "butt-kickin'" wind! Years ago when Andie was a teen, we lived in in Maryland. Windy Rieger was the reporter on our favorite local television channel. There was a mighty storm coming in from the Atlantic. Wendy was sent to Ocean City, Maryland to report on the storm. As she stood at the edge of the water with the wind whipping all around her so that she couldn't hardly remain standing, our sweet reporter said, "This is a butt-kickin' wind!" We have loved that statement ever since. Andie sent me a video and asked if I could understand what she was saying. The only word I understood was Messina. However, I could read Andie's lips and tell by the setting Andie was saying, "This is a butt-kickin' wind!" Andie posted these pictures of Hayden and Bailey standing in that wind.

The second thing was Andie's love of books. As a child, she read the Alex Hailey book "Roots" several times. We would find her in the basement bedroom she shared with her sister, Nissa, under the covers with a flashlight reading a book when she was supposed to be asleep. Now she teaches elementary school. This coming year she will have a class of second graders. Imagine her delight in finding one of those Little Library boxes when people leave a book they have read and don't need anymore and may take, for free, a book someone else has left. Andie found an Eric Carle book in Italian. This book reading, school teaching daughter-of-mine, was very happy with her find.

Third, involved Michael. When I had my hysterectomy in 2000, Michael, my son-in-law came to stay with me the first three days I was home from the hospital. I was absolutely NOT hungry until that third day. Then I called Michael into my bedroom, told him to go look in the fridge and get the pound of bacon. Then he was to cook it and we would eat it. He did and we did. Fun memory. As Claude was healing, he started to get an appetite back. I sent a text message to Michael saying, "Claude wants bacon! You're up!!" Now, I knew he was half way around the world and had no clue when Michael would get the message. I thought it would be fun to include him in Claude's recovery in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way. July 4th, I received a response from Michael. He said, "I'm a bit away from him right now, let me see what I can do." There was a link to a Google map with his location at La Giara, a restaurant in Anacapri NA, Italy. It seems they were eating. I received this picture from Andie saying they didn't have bacon, but would prosciutto do!! Love our family. Love that we can communicate from around the world.

Claude and I wanted to do something to celebrate the 4th. But, we are still in recuperating mode. Not easy for Claude to do some things. I suggested we start our day with mini-biscuits from Chick-fil-A. He loves these and we were up early enough to get them. Claude actually drove us over. First time he had driven in two weeks. Then we stopped at CVS to pick up my prescription from Dr. Wilson.

When home, Claude took a nap. Then he sat at the desk and worked for bit. When he finished, we drove to Panera for a salad. Again, Claude drove. Things were beginning to feel a bit normal again. We were also going by Zaxby's to get some wings for Claude. They were closing early for the 4th. We didn't get wings. Claude came home and took some out of the freezer and cooked them up himself. Things are getting back to our normal!! We spent our evening watching the Eagles in concert in Australia. We did go outside for a bit to listen to the cacophony of sound with ALL those fireworks going off. Georgetown was having fireworks at the fair grounds. Neighborhoods were having fireworks shows. And LOTS of families were doing their own fireworks in their yards. If I had not known it was to celebrate freedom, I would have worried we were being bombed. Add to all of those fireworks and smoke from the fireworks, the fireflies. It was amazing outside. We went back inside and let the Eagles drown out the noise outside. It was a good way to spend our 4th of July.

I took these pictures and posted them on Facebook to celebrate the 4th of July.

There is a home in a neighborhood near ours that goes all out for holiday decorations. This is their decoration for the 4th of July. They have a wooden fence surrounding their back yard, they are a corner house. Attached to the fence are large flags. The large flags are also in the windows and on the porch in the front of the house. Surrounding the yard along the sidewalk are little flags. In the front yard is a fully dressed soldier with a skeleton also dressed in uniform and a sword through him on the ground. There is even a cannon in the yard. 

We will now try to get back to our 'regular' routine. Happy to have our sweet little home. Happy that Claude is truly on the mend. Happy that we have family we can connect with all the time and over the miles.