Hi Babe,
It was a tough night last night, I was pain all evening and into the night, ended up having to take a couple of generic Tylenol PM, which put me under pretty quickly. It also made me sleep late, it was after 10 by the time I woke up. My knee was definitely much more swollen yesterday and last night, only a little better this morning, and it still hurt like crazy, so I was barely able to do just a couple of my PT exercises all day. Spent the day icing in the hopes of making it better. I feel like this was a real setback, and likely unnecessary, I’m going to have to make sure I don’t let it get that bad in PT again, even if it takes a little longer in the end. I’m getting tired of being in pain, and I was feeling really good on Monday, but now I feel like I did last week. The good news is the latest covid stimulus package included a COBRA insurance subsidy for six months, starting on April 1, so that means I’ll be able to keep my health insurance at no cost until September. Hopefully by then I’ll be able to get my covid vaccinations and get a contract that will allow me to get the regular insurance back again before it runs out. Perfect timing on that, I must say. Anyway, I’ve been adding ginger tea and ginger snap cookies to my diet, since ginger is supposed to be good for inflammation, and after about the fifth or sixth course of icing, my knee was feeling a bit better, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to sleep without taking any more pills. They just knock me out too hard. Hopefully, I’ll be back on track tomorrow! Meanwhile, it’s time for shower and bed. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’!
A great night sleep, a quiet morning, though the Buick battery was down again, but I’m thinking it’s more likely the battery is just bad rather than I have a draw. Got a call from my friend Donna from NY, we’ve been playing phone tag for a week now, but we finally connected today, albeit only for a short while because I had to head off to my PT session. My PT this afternoon was a hard one, there’s one woman there that really likes to push the envelope and I had her today. I was pretty sore by the time I left. Dropped a return package off at UPS, then went to Walmart for some shopping, using one of those motorized carts, the second time I’ve used one, just because I’m not sure I can make it around the whole store walking yet. Got home around 4:00 and started icing right away. I even put some CBD cream around the edges because it was really painful, and I can’t take any ibuprofen with the new medicine I started taking last week. Got the horses fed, played with Lola, and finally settled down for the evening. Just another mundane day waiting for the time when I’ll be able to go riding again! Not soon enough for me! Anyway, time for shower and bed. Good night, Baby! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Despite the two hour nap yesterday afternoon, I had a full night sleep and woke up a bit more energetic this morning. I did a load of laundry, then spent a little time messing around with the Buick. I couldn’t find a drain on the battery, but the terminals were a bit corroded so I cleaned those up. I was able to start it okay, and I measured the voltage when I finished, so I can check it tomorrow and see how it compares. It’s highly possible it’s just the battery gone bad, after all, I bought a cheap one-year battery when I thought I was going to sell it, and that was a couple of years ago, and the worst thing is to just let it sit around, so if it doesn’t start tomorrow or looks like it’s been drained again, I may just take it to the auto parts store and get a new one. Or I might just wait until next year, since I won’t be here too much longer, and I really need to get someone to look at it and try to find out where this wheezing noise is coming from. It seems to run great, but that noise concerns me. If nothing else, I want to give it a wash and then park it out of the way and cover it up with the new cover I bought this year. I did all of my PT exercises for both my knee and my shoulder, and my knee is feeling quite good these days. I still don’t have full motion, but I don’t have any real pain, just a sense that there is a restriction on my mobility a bit, but it’s getting better every day. I spent the rest of the day mostly reading, watching a little TV, then sitting in on a Zoom meeting with the folks up at the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, AK, where we visited when we were up there a few years ago, and where we adopted a Musk Ox, too! A great old gal named Luna, who’s acting as a mentor to the younger mothers these days. I also discovered that ginger is good for inflammation, so I mixed my Sleepytime tea with some ginger tea that I had, along with icing my leg all day, so the swelling is definitely going down. Anyway, progress is made, time for shower and bed. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie!
I didn’t think it was possible, but I had an even lazier day today than the past few days! Put the charger on the Buick battery with the intention, if I was in the mood, to look for a parasitic drain it has, but I never did get in the mood. I did my PT exercises on my yoga mat outside when it warmed up (it was a cool morning), read for a bit, called and had a chat with your sister Jean for a bit, then started dozing in my chair. I felt tired enough that I climbed back into bed and took a good two hour nap! Don’t know why I’m feeling so lazy, but I’m sure that will turn around soon. Ice my leg a few times, then watched a new BBC limited series you would have loved, about a group of retired police detectives brought back to solve cold cases, called New Tricks. Loads of fun! Took my shower early so my hair would dry before going to bed, since it’s supposed to drop down into the fifties overnight. Great sleeping weather, but didn’t want to catch a chill with a wet head. So I’m off to bed now, with plans for a busier and hopefully more energetic day tomorrow! Love you darlin’! Good night!

Hi Darlin’,
Had a great night sleep, and another very lazy day today. Did my PT exercises, read and watched TV all day, just not in the mood to do anything else. This was the first day, though, where I felt the pain level in my knee was actually less that before the surgery, which definitely means I’m on the mend! I can envision myself walking without any pain at all in the near future, yay! Nothing else to report really, just a pretty ordinary day. I would say “boring”, but that would just make you mad that I’m living such a dull life at the moment. Don’t worry, I’ll make up for it once my knee is better and I’ve had my covid shots! This last year has been such a strange one with all the quarantining and social distancing, so glad it looks like we’ll soon be over it soon! Meanwhile, I just keep telling myself I’m recovering from surgery, I’m entitled to a little time off. Shower and bed soon! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Babe,
Had quite an uneventful day today, really, had nothing on the agenda, had a fleeting thought that I should start my taxes but decided I wasn’t in the mood. I did finally got a hold of the RV parts folks about returning the items that we didn’t use to fix the slide, got it all packed up, then had them tell me not to bother to ship it back! Granted the most expensive things were the bearings that we used, but the rest of it was worth over $75, but they said to not to return them! Not sure what to do with them, since I don’t want to just carry them around, don’t need any extra weight, that’s for sure! I guess I’ll just tuck them in the barn with some other stuff I’ve stored there, or maybe list it on Marketplace, though it seems like it’s too specific to sell online, but you never know! After that was settled, I pulled out my yoga mat and did all my PT exercises, both knee and shoulder, and felt pretty good after that. My knee is really coming along, the inflammation is coming down nicely, and I’m getting a lot more mobility out of it these days. I iced it off and on the rest of the afternoon while I binged on TV, just not feeling like doing much of anything today. It was a bit cooler, which is great, it was too hot last night, but today was beautiful. I can’t wait until I can swim again! And ride, of course! It won’t be long, though, I can feel it! So after this quiet day, I’m heading off the shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hello my love!
Happy 87th Birthday! Hard to believe this is the second birthday since you’ve journeyed to the undiscovered country, time really does fly. It was a fairly low-key day, as you would expect. I got a call from the physical therapy folks to see if I could move up my appointment to this morning rather than this afternoon, which I gladly did, so I had barely finished breakfast and my morning chores before I drove off (in my truck, which started with no problems this morning!) Ally had me doing some actual weight-bearing exercises today, she thinks I’m coming along very well. I asked her point blank when the earliest I can get back on my horse would be, and she checked her calendar and said, May 4, which is eight weeks from my surgery. I think she actually said it should be ten weeks, I’ll have to confirm that. Anyway, I’ve been working hard, trying to maintain a balance between lots of therapy on my own, and not overdoing it so much that it sets me back. Tough balance, so I’m discovering. Headed over to Walmart after that, picked up a prescription for a better pill for inflammation (I’ve been taking way too many ibuprofen), and I only have to take one a day. I also tried to replace Jeff’s lawnmower battery, which he said was dead, but when they tested it at Walmart they said it had a full charge, so the twenty minutes I was in line at customer service wasn’t very productive. At least I didn’t have to stand, I got one of the electric carts to shop in, I knew it would be too much for me to walk all over that store. Did some grocery shopping and still managed to get back by about 1:30. It was a hot one today, upper 80’s! I just wish I could go swimming, but doctor’s orders are for no submerging for a couple more weeks, and to protect my knee from the sun. At least I can take my usual stand up shower every night now, that’s a relief! I mostly relaxed the rest of the day, just icing down my knee, it had quite the workout today. Fed the critters and settled down for a quiet evening. I got an email from your sister early this morning and tried to call her, but there was no answer. I’ll keep trying this week until I reach her. Anyway, I’m headed to shower and bed again, another slow day of recovery! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Woke up early again, same process of reading awhile, then falling back to sleep. Got up and puttered around until Jeff was ready to finish feeding the animals and go. Meanwhile, his friend Tom had a strange noise come from the van he was driving as he was getting to leave, but after a bit it seemed to go away, so hopefully he made it wherever he was going! We finally left the yard about 11:15, though he forgot his phone and had to go back, so we didn’t get there until just before noon. Fortunately, they’d parked it on the street, which was fantastic because I was very worried about getting it out the driveway because it had a steep incline, and that would have created a problem. Anyway, it all looked good, turns out they didn’t use hardly any of the parts except the bearings, and there was so much labor involved it cost nearly $3,000, but at least the job is done now, and the slide is coming in and out perfectly. And since I didn’t have to pay homeowners insurance and property taxes this year, I guess it’s pretty much a wash! We got back and got it back into place with no trouble, and I started to move everything from the house back into my “home.” Then a weird thing happened. I was going to Walmart to pick up a prescription for me and a battery for Jeff’s lawnmower, and I started the truck just fine and moved it up in front of the house, right where Tom’s van had been, and it suddenly just quit! Then it wouldn’t start. It cranked, but wouldn’t start. Then I notice that none of the gauges on my instrument panel were working, the back up camera monitor on my radio wouldn’t shut off (in fact, I couldn’t get the head unit to turn off at all), and my power windows and locks suddenly didn’t work. But my power seats worked, and the computer settings on my dash worked. Really weird! So I started to try to find the problem, thinking it was maybe a vapor lock in the fuel line, which had happened once before when it almost overhead climbing a mountain in TN, but that didn’t seem to be the problem. Then I started at looking at fuses and relays, and everything I could think of. Finally Jeff came out to help, and we still couldn’t find anything wrong. He even put his diagnostic machine on it, and there were no new codes except the one for the glow plug, which has been that way for years. Well, this went on for a couple of hours, and Jeff gave up and I was looking and not finding anything on the internet, so finally I got my electrical meter and started checking all the fuses, inside and out. I didn’t find any that were bad, but there were a couple that were not quite seated properly, but I don’t know if they were like that before or if it was after Jeff had checked them, but I pushed them all back in. I really don’t think that had anything to do with anything, but I finally got back into the truck and turned the key on, and my gauges started moving and my power stuff started working, and sure enough, when I cranked the key, the truck started right up! So weird! I let it run for awhile, then backed it back up into it’s place in front of the trailer, because it was way too late to go out now, it was feeding time, so that’s a trip for tomorrow. I sure hope it was some kind of safety feature or something, though I couldn’t find anything on the internet suggesting that, and I sure hope it doesn’t happen again! I told Jeff I think he’s got a giant black hole in front of his house where everything mechanic suddenly fails, like his own personal EMP! That would explain why he has so many dead vehicles in that area. Anyway, I finished moving my stuff back from the house and settled down for the evening, happy to be back in my little home, especially now that my slide works perfectly! Got awful sweaty out there today, so I’m heading to a shower and bed. Good night, sweetheart! Happy St. Patty’s Day! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Woke up around 4:30 a.m., read for a bit before falling asleep until nearly 8:00. Another beautiful morning! We’ve been having a lot of them lately. Fed the critters and spent the morning mostly reading and icing my knee, then headed out to PT, driving for the first time since my knee surgery. I wasn’t suppose to do it until two weeks after, but I figure 12 days is close enough, and I didn’t really have a choice because Jeff had service calls to run. Since it’s not far, and I could use cruise control most of the way, it wasn’t bad at all. The PT ladies were surprised I wasn’t using my walking stick (I haven’t since Saturday), but that didn’t stop them from giving me a good workout today! I just felt like I was leaning on the stick too much, literally, and found I was gaining better balance without it. Did all the regular exercises and added a couple more that I need to do daily. I took more ibuprofen and iced up again as soon as I got home, I could tell I was going to ache before long from the extra workout, but I guess it means I’m making progress. Anyway, I called the RV mechanic and they were still working on it, not sure if it would be done by the end of day yet or not. Then I had a virtual video conference with the PA from the knee surgeon’s office, and was FINALLY able to take the bandage off. They did a nice job of sewing it up with dissolvable stitches underneath and super glue on top, so I’m hoping the scar won’t be too terrible, though I’m not vain enough to freak out about it. It just feels like I have a bit more freedom in my knee now, which makes it mildly less painful. He did recommend a “one-a-day” pain pill to replace the 8-9 ibuprofen I’ve been taking every day, so I need to pick that up tomorrow. I finally got a call from the RV shop, it was close to being done, though too late in the day to pick up, but we can get it in the morning. Apparently it was the gearbox on the motor, so that entire unit had to be replaced, but there was nothing wrong with any of the other parts except the bearings, so I guess I’ll be returning all of those. So it’s another night in Jeff’s guest room. He had a friend, Tom, show up, and I guess he would be staying in the guest room if it weren’t for me, but it was never mentioned, so I guess he’s staying on the couch until I get back in my trailer tomorrow. Bad timing in so many ways! Spent the evening icing and watching Netflix on my computer, took a lovely long shower without have to wrap my leg with Press N’ Seal so I feel cleaner than I have in a long time, and now I’m ready for bed! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Got up early, which with DST was still dark, but managed to get everything ready to go, though not before my volunteer driver Scott arrived bright and early. We headed out right on schedule and arrived at the shop in Stuart, which turned out to be a pretty small space, with barely enough room to get the trailer in, and a driveway with such a big dip in it my pull out stairs got dragged and bent.. I dropped off all the parts, and we were back home in no time. I sat by the pool for awhile, though I can’t get in to swim yet because of the stitches on my knee, though I’m hoping I can in a few days, the weather has been absolutely perfect! Finally relaxed inside when it got too hot, then Jeff’s boarder and her boyfriend showed up and hung out for a few hours outside, deciding not to ride because she thought her horse was too sore from yesterday’s ride. I stayed in the house, though, mostly reading and continuing my icing regime. For a brief time, the mechanic seemed to think he would be able to finish early enough for me to get my trailer back today, which was surprising, but in the end, it turned out that despite my hours of effort to insure we had the right parts for the job, we didn’t. Still not sure exactly why, but the mechanic says the whole configuration was different than the schematic that I got from the parts folks, so I don’t know. Anyway, he’s going to try to get the parts locally tomorrow so he can finish the job. Apparently he had trouble with the molding around the slide and had to rip some of that out to get the slide out, so I may need to do some serious rebuilding when I get it back. It’s going to be a logistic problem picking it up tomorrow, since Jeff has a job and I have PT and a virtual doctor’s appointment, so it will be a challenge. Jeff finally got back around 10:00 from the Gator Nationals, he had some mechanical problems with James’ truck so he had to repair some bearings before he could make the drive back. So, sleeping in the house (I had even put my pillow aside to bring in, and thought I had, but somehow I didn’t so I don’t have my pillow), but the bed’s pretty comfy, and Lola’s worn out from a lot of playtime today so she’s settled down nicely. Time for bed, so I’m signing off! Good night, my darling! Love you!