Short & Sweet Post...

Tuesday, July 22nd, was a great day. My shoulder was not hurting as much and that makes for better movement to do the things you would normally try to do. 

The night before I started sleeping with Claude again. Since a while after surgery when I found I could lay down with my head propped up to sleep rather than sleeping in a chair, I have been sleeping in the guest bedroom. My sleep while healing is not the best. I finally got to a point where I could sleep a little while on my right side. This is always my best sleep. I was also able to sleep better on my left side. We decided to try sleeping together again. I make it till about 6am and then I get up and move to another place to sleep or do my morning PT and ice up. It is nice to be sleeping together again. Another milestone in the healing. 

Our bishop, Bart Barber, called Claude to see if either of us had a key to the church. I have one to the outside doors so I can go in and practice the organ. He asked if he could come and borrow it for a bit. Claude assured him that was fine. When bishop arrived, he explained an entire hilarious series of events where he now has multiple keys locked in multiple rooms at the church. He simply wanted to be sure the outside doors were locked. He would be back on Wednesday nights with work with the Georgetown Ward to get into rooms to get the key situation straight. 

While he had my key (we live across the highway from the church), I saw clover growing again in the front flower bed. I thought I would pick that with my left hand while I waited for bishop. A mother and her daughter came along and waved as they walked past. The daughter came back and asked if I played the piano. Yes, I do. She wanted to know if I teach piano lessons. While I did that long ago, I no longer do that. It was a sweet interaction. 

We are now blessed with a 5 Guys burger restaurant in Georgetown. Claude would take me there for a nice dinner. I love that they can make me a regular sized burger with only bacon and extra BBQ sauce on it. YUM!! While we were eating, a man across the restaurant caught my eye. He smiled and waved. I acknowledge him. He and his friend finished their meal before Claude and me. When we went to our car after our meal, he and his friend were talking. He grinned at me again and said, "You look like that actress. She is really good." He was having trouble thinking of her name. I have great empathy for that. He mentioned something about a movie she was in. This is Claude area so I had Claude listen to the description of the movie and Claude was able to tell him the movie and that the actress was Kathy Bates. I love Kathy Bates. It was a fun chat about how good the Big Bang Theory was. We got there because Kathy Bates played the mother of Amy in the show. We said out goodbyes and wished each other well. Such a pleasant interchange. I mention this only because as a society we get tied in knots about it. This gentleman was black. I tend to talk to people I don't know. This conversation was so natural. I wonder that we think there is always tension between black people and white people. There does not need to be. He was friendly and outgoing. I appreciated his interaction. That is how I wish all of people were. There, that is my soap box for this day.

Wednesday, July 23rd, was a day at home clearing out things in Sandiland and on my laptop. 

Thursday, July 24th, I was back to driving myself. I drove to my PT appointment and then to Tropical Smoothie Cafe to get a treat for Claude and me. Yeah me!!

In the evening, Claude purchased us tickets to go to Florence, Kentucky to see the Ya'lls play baseball. It turned out to be a perfect night at the park. We always get seats on the third base side as the is where the shade come first as the sun sets. We enjoyed ballpark food and ice cream for dessert. They have built a new building at the stadium and moved their merchandise store to the end of that closest to the stadium seating. They have strung the protective net all the way down the third base line and that makes it so kids can't sit on the brick barrier to the field. They have moved the kids playthings to the first base side way at the end. They had a train that ran from the first base side to the third base side, turned around and went back to the first base side. It did this a couple of times during the evening. It was a great night at the park. The Ya'll won by a good margin. 

Claude has been watching the odometer in the Jeep. On the way home it turned over 100,000 miles. I tried to get a picture but my lame arm and the blue lights for the numbers were not cooperating very well. Nice milestone for Claude and his Jeep.

Friday, July 25th, was a have-your-meals-out kind of day. We started with breakfast biscuits from Bojangles and finished with a discount at Jimmy John's. Not bad. Not bad at all.

I was able to get tickets for Mannheim Steamroller in December. That is one Christmas date scheduled. 

I also got an appointment to get my driver's license renewed. 

We had a tender moment. Paul, our grandson, sent a message to Claude asking for prayers for him. Claude and he messaged back and forth a while. Then Claude sent a message to Paul suggesting he call him and they talk or Paul could call Claude. Paul really just needed the connection and to ask for our prayers. Claude was able to send him a really good message of hope. I love when the grand and great grandkids interact with Claude. Fills my heart.

Saturday, July 26th, we had another at home day. Claude cut the grass and took care of the yard. With us having so little rain, it has been a few weeks since he had to do that. While Claude cared for the yard, I tried my arm at dusting and sweeping. Look at us old people take care of business.

Once we had a rest inside after these bursts of energy, I pulled out my project of looking at timing for our Route 66 trip. I made a list of all our stops and the time it took to get from one to the other and included time for museums and things. We went over all of this, eliminated some things and saw a clearer picture of what we wanted to do versus time to do it. I will make corrected travel grids and we will work from them. Whew. This is a big trip.

Sunday, July 27th, has been a difficult day for me. I am sure of what some of the reasons are. Mostly, they are just one of those blue days. We went to church where I was grateful for the sacrament. One of the talks was about faith and that was so good to hear those truths I believe.

We had Burger King for lunch. Claude had a nap. I did my second PT for the day and iced up. Now I'm doing Blogging and some other things on the laptop. I will have a low key evening and get back on track. Blue days are just not any fun. Doing something that is right for that day and accomplishing a little bit helps so much. 

Out and About More...

Monday, July 15th, I had a very bad night sleeping. One of those nights where you sleep for an hour or so and your body says, "I'm rested. Let's go!" I have learned to give it a bit to try and get back to sleep. If that doesn't work, I get up and accomplish something and then try to sleep. This night I spent two hours on my laptop knowing if I took a two hour nap the next day, I still would have accomplished during the night what I would have done in that two hours of daylight. Geez!! 

In the arena of arm improvement, I was able strip and launder the bed linens for both beds, then put them back on the bed all by myself. Yeah me and yeah my arm!! 

In the afternoon, after doing my PT and sitting to ice my shoulder, I was watching something I had DVR'd. An advertisement came on and I suddenly really, really wanted tacos for dinner. When Claude awoke from his nap, I shared my new dinner craving with him and he was on board. That is the joy of being retired. We always said we would feel wealthy when we could get a hamburger anytime. Maybe that also applies to tacos!

I had a full day, even after a bad night's sleep. It feels like I am rebuilding my stamina. Yeah!!

Tuesday, July 16th, time for a PT appointment. Also, we were notified they would deliver Claude recliner at the same time as my PT. That means I needed to drive myself. I first went to the post office to mail something, then to PT followed by a drive to Tropical Smoothie Cafe for a treat for Claude and me. It felt good to drive again. It also feels like I am rusty. I can do it but I am really, really careful. 

We went out in the evening. I went to the garage and said to Claude, "I wonder if I can pull myself into the Jeep?" I went to the Jeep and managed to get myself up and into the Jeep without much pain in my right shoulder. Yeah!! We can now ride in the Jeep some.

Wednesday, July 17th, Claude and I are pretty much to ourselves. This day I connected with several people in our lives. Catherine Meo is our next door neighbor. I called and learned about her surgery and healing. It seems some neighbor had taken her trash can as well as our trash can from the curb back to our respective garage doors. Catherine thought Claude and I did it. I assured her we were also the recipients of someone's kindness. 

I went outside to check my flowers on my dinner plate hibiscus. My across the street neighbors were sitting in their garage. I went across to thank them for moving our garbage cans. They did not do it. I had a nice quick visit with them and learned it was probably Beverly. She lives on the corner. 

In the later afternoon, I got a call from Jessie Carter. I mailed her a nice pink scarf and she received it a day earlier than I thought it would arrive. She was over-the-moon happy about it and called to say thank you. 

We purchased a birdhouse on a table leg when we were at Clifton Mill. Claude put two coats of clear paint on it after we brought it home. We placed it in the corner flower bed. I took pictures of it and my dinner plate hibiscus starting to bloom.

Thursday, July 18th, they took measurements at my office PT to check my progress since surgery. These measurement will be sent to Dr. Sajadi, my surgeon. I am doing really well. 

This day was a rare summer day with no humidity. It is a true thing that the humidity make the heat in the south hotter and the cold colder. When we have a day with low or no humidity, we really enjoy them. To top it off, Claude purchased a watermelon and we enjoyed that summer treat of ice cold watermelon for dessert. Yum!!

Friday, July 19th, we were bound for Morehead, Kentucky in the morning. Our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, donated a truckload of frozen meat to God's pantry. This would be distributed between 11 organizations to go to families in need. It is always a treat to be with people for one of these events. The CEO of God's Pantry took us on a tour of the regional distribution warehouse. I learned that for every $1 monetary donation, they can feed 6 families a meal. If they have to purchase from a store, one meal costs $3.65. One of the donations they most cherish is a protein donation. This is because protein is so expensive. So this donation was particularly welcome. 

After we finished this event, Claude took me on an adventured really geared to me. I love turtles. Turtle is my favorite word. Main Street in Morehead is the only city in Kentucky with a national recreation trail on Main Street! The name Sheltowee was given to Daniel Boone by Chief Blackfish of the Shawnee Indians. It means Big Turtle. The Sheltowee Trail is an interesting hike and we did the easiest part. We saw only 7 of the many turtles that have been placed in Phase I of this project. The brochure tells you all the current locations (pictured below). Some are inside and some are outside. It was a delight to see a few of these turtles. It was a fun way to get to know a community in Kentucky a little better. The two final pictures were in front of Creative Touch Florist. They were painted by the granddaughter of Samone and Steve Ratcliff. We had been with her in the morning at the God's Pantry event. She painted Kentucky flowers that are found in the woods on this turtle.

Saturday, July 20th, 2024, we drove to LaGrange, Kentucky in the morning. It was the Oldham County Days 200th celebration. We were there to watch the parade. This is Bailey's senior year and would be the last time we had a grandchild in the parade. It was a really good parade. Bailey was the best one in her row. 

This day Betty Dixon called to tell us Sandy Wolfe passed away. These are dear friends from our motorcycle days. 

Claude also harvested his first big tomato this year. It is beautiful.

Sunday, July 21st, I was grateful to attend church and take the sacrament. 

In the afternoon, I was able to share Papa's walker with a friend whose daughter is participating in a dance festival. They are doing something with the theme of The Golden Girls television show. Later, this picture of the girls was posted on Facebook. I remember Hayden and Bailey loving the opportunity play with Papa's walker when they were visiting him. Papa would love that other kids are enjoying the walker again.

Our son, Jake, posted this picture to Facebook. I really like this picture of him. 

In the evening, we chose to rock out with Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles. Very nice evening. 

Monday, July 22nd, I had a dental cleaning appointment in the morning. Claude had a Zoom meeting in the morning so I got to drive myself. After, I went to Walmart to pick up a few things. 

The biggy in the afternoon was cutting Claude's hair. His last haircut was done by Nissa, our daughter, a few days after I came home from surgery. I had been talking to Claude about it. My arm can hold up by itself to the height of my shoulder for a bit now. We discussed the possibility of cutting his hair over a two day period. We also talked about having him sit a different heights to help my arm get to where it needs to be to cut hair. Since my arm was not hurting as much, I suggested that, instead of doing my PT in the afternoon, we cut his hair and that would be my PT for the afternoon. We started out with him sitting in a chair from the dining room table as we usually do. This allowed me to cut from his neck to the top of his ears. I then got a wooden step stool from the guest bathroom that is about a foot tall. Claude sat on that so I could more easily get the hair on the top of his head cut. Whew!! It was a process but we did it. Yeah us!! After, I iced my shoulder. 

The thing of note for me about this week was the amount of days in a row that I needed to be up and out of the house. I had somewhere to get up, get ready and leave our home from Thursday through Tuesday. It means I am building strength and getting back to a more normal routine. The blessing of being my age and retired, is that I can come home and rest when needed. Progress is happening!!