July 16-23

From a somewhat overcast MO,

I have been quite neglectful in writing, but it seems that I am tired all the time and I quickly check e-mail, but don't get any farther.

We made a second trip to Liberty on the 17th for bloodwork, chest x-ray, and a stress test for Jim prior to his hip replacement surgery scheduled for July 26. We have been trying to get the house re-arranged to make it easier for him to get around - and in some cases have duplicated our efforts. An example would be that we rearranged the guest bedroom so that he would have more floor space to maneuver, then when he read the manual yesterday, discovered, that it had been correct to begin with - so all the lifting and cursing had been in vain - along with the damage to the back. We have put 3 inch "lifters" under each corner of the bed and the height should be about right for him.

On Friday evening we joined neighbors and using our comfy lawnchairs, enjoyed the Friday night cruise of old cars. I don't have any idea how many participated - probably close to 100, and 300 were expected to be parked in the city park all day on Saturday.

I don't know if I will be back on before the 26th surgery.

Be safe.
B.

July 14 and 15

From a sunny, warmish MO,

We really didn't do too much on Saturday. I went to the funeral service of Jack McCall. I know my hearing isn't as good as it used to be, but the speaker system where the "guest" speakers spoke was atrocious. I could hear the minister fine - wasn't that impressed with him, but I really wanted to hear what friends had to say - and couldn't hear that. Even Kenny C - who has a beautiful voice - did not come through well.

Last evening we headed to the Wabash BBQ for their outdoor concert. The sky looked somewhat threatening to the north and east, but we thought we would just watch and see what happened. The crowd was quite small last night - am guessing too many things going on in town and by a little before 9:00 a few sprinkles started and the lightning was getting closer. We decided to head home a few minutes later and the heavens opened up with buckets of water coming down and lots of wind. I spent about 30 minutes this a.m. cleaning up debris in our backyard - well not cleaning up, just getting it off the yard.

Jim went to Indian Creek to fish this today so I headed to Country Kitchen for a full breakfast. People in a booth a short distance from mine were saying that their yard looked like a war area - so guess the CT will have something about this in the paper tomorrow. It sounds as if we were just lucky to get an inch of rain and dead limbs down.

I have done some minor dusting this morning - should have been major. I'm also doing a couple of loads of laundry and then plan on curling up with the 14th Susan Wittig Albert book and/or taking a nap - eventually probably both. I fixed a layered lettuce/frozen pea/cheese, etc. salad yesterday so am thinking I'll fix hamburgers for supper - and finish off with the salad.

We have several errands to do on Monday, but the main one will be that one of us stays by the phone at all times as we have missed calls from Liberty Hospital on Thursday and Friday. If all is still "go", we have to be at the hospital by 7:30 on Tuesday to do pre-op testing - meaning we will need to leave here about 6:00.

Be safe.
B.

July 8-13

From a warmish, sunny MO,

It seems as if we have been busy this week. Errands took a lot of our time on Monday as well as doing some paperwork for a Tuesday trip to Liberty Hospital.

I had thought that actual pre-testing would be done on Tuesday, but it seemed that the two to three hours that we were there - paperwork was mostly involved - plus making sure that everything was right on the hosptial computer - it wasn't at first! After the paperwork part, we went to the doctor's office to have it confirmed that hip replacement will be the surgery coming up.

Next we went to O'Charley's for a good lunch - and then a quick trip to Sam's to get styrofoam traps for the House of Prayer. The day became a little longer than we had anticipated.

Jim joined both breakfast groups on Wednesday while I went through the drive-thru at McDonald's and did some errands. I joined Sandy Mc and Pat N for lunch and then I dozed much of the rest of the afternoon.

We had a record number at breakfast on Thursday - good to see such a large turnout, but impossible to keep up with all the conversations going.

We were on the road heading south by 6:15 this morning and had a good trip to Pomme, hooked up the trailer, went to the campgrounds, winterized, boxed up items that needed to be brought home either because of the potential to freeze - or just needed to get used up before next spring, took the trailer back to the shed, and then headed home. We did stop at Perkins at Sedalia for a good lunch - really overdid it - so supper will be on our own - and very little tonight.

Jack McCall died on Wednesday and the memorial service is Saturday afternoon at the local First Christian Church. Sandy Mc is planning on picking me up and we will go on to the funeral.

It is really a good thing we went to Pomme today as the temp might have made 80 or 81, but next week the temp is to be in the low to mid 90s!

If we have energy, we are going to the Wabash on Saturday evening to hear a blues band. About everyother Saturday an outdoor concert is hosted by the Wabash. We saw the first one and have had conflicts since so we are looking forward to Saturday evening.

Our next week should be a little slower - back to Liberty on Tuesday for actual lab work, Jim wants to get out fishing at least once, and routine errands. We had a phone call from Liberty Hospital on Thursday which we missed and again today - so hopefully we will be here for the next call - and hopefully there are no surprises.

Be safe.
B.

It has been awhile since I have been on the blog - but the time has not been quiet.

Jim left early on the morning of June 28 for his second trip to Canada - and returned last night - July 6. Of course they had a wonderful time - lots of fish caught, lots of food, spotted two enormous snapping turtles making whoopee! - were able to get within about 10 feet of them and has a few interesting photos.

In the meantime, I have been rather lazy. I have spent some time with a good friend whose younger daughter died unexpectedly on the 27th. Sandy Mc called this a.m. to say that she had a new granddaughter - Jarrod and Gretchen are the proud parents. I spent 4th of July evening in our living room with our two canine daughters as they weren't too happy about all the explosions going off outside, etc., etc., etc. I had good intentions to do some housework, but decided I would rather be in the recliner, with two girls on my lap, and reading a good book.

On Tuesday we are scheduled to be in Liberty for pre-op procedures with Jim. Surgery had been scheduled for July 20, but has been delayed until July 26 as of this writing. After the pre-op procedures, Jim is to check in with the doctor to see how his knee is doing as there is the possibility that knee surgery will come first - then at a later time he will have hip replacement. We should know the verdict on the 10th.

We hope to get to Pomme de Terre this coming week and winterize the trailer. Thursday is supposed to be only in the low 80s so that might be a good day to go - has been in upper 80s and low 90s recently.

Be safe.
B.