April 7-12

From a coolish, moist MO,

On Tuesday we went to Marshall in the afternoon for a track meet. Butch S. wrote with us. He takes marvelous photos of our students. We were comfortable in the afternoon, but as the sun set, it became cooler, cooler, and finally just cold. We were back in Chillicothe about 10:00 p.m.

Jim and I made a second trip to Marshall on Wednesday as Jim had wanted to go to particular sporting goods store in Marshall on Tuesday, but the track meet was over later enough that the store was closed. They had the item he was looking for and we were soon on our way back to Chillicothe.

I don't think I have ever attended a Maundy Thursday service so that is what we did on Thursday evening. The Service of Tenebrae (of Darkness) was included and I am quite sure I have never been exposed to this.

One of the church members asked us what we were doing Easter and we had no specific agenda so she invited us to join her for a Greek lunch/dinner. This turned out to be a marvelous meal with stuffed grape leaves, hummus, a couscous type of salad, marvelous homemade bread, a Greek salad, an eggplant dish, fresh asparagus, and I know I am forgetting something. She had made a cheesecake and I had taken some strawberries for a topping. Jim chose two wines to go with the meal so we were all mellow by the time we left the table. She had also invited one person from Chillicothe as well as two from Trenton.

We have spent much of today doing errands - Jim walked this a.m. at the Y, we went to Nick's for breakfast, post office, WalMart, optometrist to get Jim's new glasses adjusted, a futile trip to HS to deliver a certificate (will repeat tomorrow), a quick trip to HyVee, filled truck with gas, went through three of our pooch containers and have some items to take to the animal shelter along with a pile of newspapers, the girls had haircuts and baths, and Jim got to track practice as it was over. We should sleep well tonight.

On Tuesday I have a few errands to do and then we will leave about 1:00 to head to Maryville for a track meet. We need to stop briefly at Sam's at St. Joseph to get some styrofoam containers for the House of Prayer to use in their meal deliveries. I know it will be late when we get home.

Be safe.
B.

March 28 - April 6

From a cold MO,

Jim has had a couple - or three - light Meniere's episodes since I last wrote. He had one at the Joe Shy Relays and grabbed a chewable pill and it finally helped. I saw him go to the backpack, but didn't realize he was having a problem. Guess the looking up, down, sideways, etc. might have gotten to him. He worries that his days of being able to help with the running off of the pole vault event could be over. He is quite frustrated with all of this.

I saw our family doctor today and he read over the results from St. Joseph. The confusion in numbers was that the mass was given in length, depth, and height - so one was 3.9, another was 2.9, etc. He indicated the bloodwork was for a specific cancer and it was negative. He seems to feel that waiting until June for a third CT scan would be following normal protocol. I did get a shot that should give me some initial relief from the flank pain (he poked around and when he found the tender area said it was not in the area of the adrenal gland). I also have another prescripton for generic Vicodin.

There is a track meet at Marshall tomorrow, but we will see how Tuesday goes before deciding whether we will go.

We did an interesting thing this past Wednesday evening as the church we have been "trying out" had a Seder meal. This was an interesting education to me. The KC Star on Saturday had an article on this subject and I was intrigued as to how closely our "meal" followed the Jewish practice.

We will be watching the big basketball game tonight - hopefully I can stay awake.

Activities coming up for us include voting in a local election tomorrow, Maryville Relays next Tuesday, the Cameron Relays the next Tuesday, followed by the Excelsior Springs Relays on the following Friday.

The girls need haircuts so I will be calling the "pet hairdresser" tomorrow to set an appointment now that I know I won't have immediate doctor appointments coming up.

One thing that has been interesting is that my cousin (just less than 7 months younger than me) called me this past weekend indicating that she had a "hair analysis" done and some of the results included adrenal problems. I have always been suspicious of this kind of analysis so I hope she pursues the issue to see if she has a medical issue as well.

Be safe.
B.