Doctors, Roses and Tahoes

Most things were going halfway decent this week.  Got home from an interesting weekend of camping to become besieged with outrageous allergies, mostly due to the entire countryside being covered with a plethora of yellow 'flowers', AKA, Ragweed.  The Ragweed and grass pollen counts are off the  charts here and I've got it bad.  Head and chest congestion, coughing up "pollen balls" (sounds better than phlegm) and much blowing.  Yuck.  It is very {unusually} dry and the lack of humidity and low dewpoint makes it worse.  I pray for a break in the weather SOON!

While we were camping, we had a call that our friends son was in a motor cycle accident so they hopped in their truck and headed for the hospital, but did come back later, as he was 'fine'.  Totaled the bike, but he escaped with only a broken collarbone and 3 staples in his head along with an abundance of 'road rash'.  They guy that got hurt was Roy, that used to work for Chuck.  He was riding the "Crotch Rocket" that belongs to the guy that currently works for Chuck.  No insurance on the bike.  Crazy people.

I had an appointment scheduled for my X-rays and visit with the Neurosurgeon on Wednesday.  It was to be my long awaited and anxiously anticipated 6 month check up.  The hospital lost my order for the X-Rays, causing a long enough of a delay that I couldn't see the surgeon afterward.  That got rescheduled for today.  MY surgeon was out of town, so I had to see another one.  I was NOT happy about that, especially since I couldn't get any straight answers or information out of him.  I did at least find out that my X-rays showed that all of my hardware is still in place and the bone grafts appear to be healing quite nicely.  That is very good news, and my main concern, but......I had many questions about a few issues I have been having and some limitations I am still experiencing.  Didn't get any satisfaction out of this guy!  In a nut shell, he told me that I should be happy that I am not in as much pain as I was prior to the surgery; that I need to remember that I am no longer 20 years old {WTF?}; that where I am at might be as good as it gets but I should continue to see improvement over the next 6 months.  Crap on a cracker.  That was so not how I wanted this appointment to turn out.

I did finally get my Tahoe back on Wednesday after being without it for almost 3 weeks while Chuck's van was awaiting the arrival of a new engine.  But then the water pump went out on the Tahoe, so I was without it for most of yesterday.  Good grief.  I think our vehicle situation should be back to 'normal' now and it sure feels good to have my 'Ho back!

The rose garden we put in last month seems to be a success!  The gal we bought the roses from had trimmed them all back...a LOT, and after the trauma of the transplant I wasn't sure they would fare well, but they all have a lot of new growth and we have had a bloom here and there, but now they are suddenly growing like crazy! Here's a shot I took of one bloom and some buds on Monday,


And here they are today!


yep! These are all those little buds, all opened up and quite fragrant! The other plants are getting lots of buds, as well. Very encouraging, indeed. Now if we can just get them to survive the winter :)

Here We Go Again...........

Packing up the motorhome and headed camping with Roy, Deb and the boys.  This time, I am not wearing myself out cooking all day to prepare stuff to take.  And I am not going to carry heavy stuff out to the motorhome and make 152 trips doing it.  (Chuck already has)  And I have already packed all of my 'just in case' meds for my leg spasms and sleeping :).  It should be much more enjoyable this time. All I have to do tomorrow is make a big batch of salsa (that everyone seems to love) and take a few things from the fridge out and I'll be ready to go.

I've still been without my truck for the second week.  The new engine for Chuck's van didn't come in until today and it 'should' be ready Friday.  Hopefully I will have my wheels back on Monday.  YAY!  I am just used to being able to come and go as I please and being stranded hasn't been too painful, but it's been a bit inconvenient.  My purple hair is fading and the silver roots are WAY over-exposed.  I am desperately in need of a fresh set of nails and a pedicure. I haven't been able to go the the fitness center to do my back and leg strengthening exercises (boo hoo).  Mostly I miss my weekly lunches with Victoria.  We talk almost everyday, but we have the most fun when we get together.

Here are a couple of pictures I took the other day.  Even tho I didn't dare get close enough to miss part of the house, thereby screwing up the composition, I am still pleased that the splashing of the little Mama Bluebird shows up so well.

There!  All clean!!  So cute to watch.  I love my bird bath :)

Camping Trip and Me, Me, Me,Me, Me

We took our motorhome out of moth balls and went on a camping trip with our neighbors and good buds, Roy & Debbie for the long holiday weekend.  We left Thursday afternoon and came home yesterday {Monday} early afternoon.  We only went about 30 mile from home, but it was a great campground on Table Rock River and our sites were right on the sandy 'beach' of the river.  Sweet!

Their 2 grandsons, Corbin and Noah were along {as they live with Roy and Deb} and Saturday was Corbin's 9th birthday so we had a party for him.  Their daughter & her hubby and youngest daughter {5} also came.  It really was lots of fun.

In my last post I was sounding off about how well I am doing post-surgery.  Well, that changed in a big-ass hurry.  After helping the farrier with the horses Wed. AM, I proceeded to spend the rest of the day gathering stuff up for the motorhome, doing laundry and shopping for the trip.  Thursday I spent the day cooking for the trip and trying to load stuff.  I made potato salad, brisket, salsa, birthday cake, beans, guacamole and other dips.  The motorhome has actually been at an RV place, as we have been trying to sell it, so it was EMPTY.  Not set up with all the basics like it always used to be, so gathering and loading was a major chore.  Needless to say, by Thursday PM I was wiped out and spent Friday and Saturday in quite a bit of pain.  Did I remember to take my meds for my leg spasms?  NO.  Did I remember my Tylenol PM so I could sleep at night even tho I couldn't get comfortable?? NO.  What an idiot.  Deb found some Tylenol PM, so that I did get some decent sleep Saturday PM.  I should have driven home for the other meds, but it {like everything else at that point} seemed like too much effort.  But that's enough bitching. 

Well, maybe not.  Wednesday PM, after having helped the farrier for about an hour and a half  that AM, Chuck and I pulled over 40 Seed Ticks off me. They were everywhere.  The big ticks don't bother me, but the Seed Tick bites itch and fester like fire ant bites and those have been driving me nuts.  We treat our yard, but in thinking back, the farrier set up his stuff off to the other side of the pasture, where no one ever really goes and apparently Chuck doesn't treat.  After he was done helping me "tick pick", he went right out and sprayed the horses.  If I got so many, imagine what they had going on!!!  Poor girls :(

Putting my 'discomfort' aside, it was a great weekend!  We're gonna go again a time or 2 before it gets to be too cold for these Southerners.  LOL  I'll just do things a bit different and be better prepared.  That, and leave more stuff for Chuck to do, like he told me to, to begin with.  Just gotta learn to listen!