Archives for March 2025

Hiya Darlin',
Had a good night sleep, did my chores, and felt good enough to tackle painting the trash receptacles today. Amazingly, my knee wasn't hurting quite as much after chores today, so the painting went just fine. After several discussions with both my doctor's office and my PT folks, we decided to continue the PT treatments, in order to preserve the muscle from atrophying during the next month, and also to make sure the insurance company doesn't use not doing it as an excuse to delay any surgery. If I can truly say I did the five or six weeks of PT and it didn't help, my chances are better. So after painting, While I was painting I got a visit from the famous Val K asking a favor, which is quite flattering! Hopefully I can help, but we'll see. I drove into Dunnellon and did my PT, then went to Walmart to pick up a few things, then home. I no sooner arrived home than Chelle arrived, delivering 15 bales of coastal hay that I'm buying from her. Her horses won't eat it now that the grass is coming up, but since my guys don't have grass, they'll be fine with it. After that was stored and they left, I proceeded to clean the contacts on the fuses that control my AC compressor (I had no AC today, and it was in the mid-80's, not liking that!), and while that was drying, I roped together some pool noodles I bought in the hope that I could make a horse toy that would keep Apollo from tearing up my water bucket, which he seems to be doing daily to assuage his boredom. I also bought a cheap ball, hoping they'll play with that, though they never did with the expensive horse ball I bought them and ended up giving away! So far, they're ignoring it, but maybe they'll come back to it later. After hanging that up, I put a fresh fuse in the truck, and the compressor came on every time, so I'm hoping that licked the problem. It wasn't blowing terribly cold, but that's probably because it was parked. I'll check it again, and if it doesn't work, it's going back to the repair shop. Can't live in Florida without AC! Finally settled down for the evening, happy that it was a more productive day. Off to bed soon! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Not surprisingly, it took me a few hours to get to sleep last night, but still managed to get a good six plus hours in. Read for awhile waiting for the rain to let up before going out to feed the horses, finished my chores, started laundry, and proceeded to do nothing but read the rest of the afternoon. I have a feeling I'm going to be doing a lot of nothing this next month. My knee feels okay for about fifteen minutes in the morning, but by the time I finish my chores, it's starting to scream at me. Finally switched from reading to TV late in the day, through dinner and my usual evening. Managed to get a hot tub in, so that was a relief. Rained most of the day off and on, with some pretty heavy showers, so Wellies were the footwear of choice today. Not much else to say, my life is fairly boring at the moment.! Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie,
Don't know quite what happened today, but after breakfast when I sat in my chair to read for a bit, I fell asleep for nearly two hours! I still felt so tired, I crawled up into bed and alternated between reading and dozing until nearly 4:00. I had half a mind to do some painting on the remaining trash receptacles that Rick had left, but I certainly didn't have the energy for some reason. My knee hurt most of the day as well. I don't know if the ride on Thursday did it (though it felt pretty good yesterday morning), and the bit of walking I did when we were installing the mounting blocks, even though it wasn't that much, but it really hurt today. I iced it whenever I was awake, and, as usual, that didn't seem to help much. I can't even muster the energy to take a hot tub, just a shower, then I'm just heading to bed right after my tea. I never realized how minor chronic pain can be so debilitating! I'm sorry I have to wait a month to see the surgeon, but I don't want to take any chances with it, so I'll wait. Anyway, I finished the Noble House mini-series, and I'm in the middle of a cute rom-com book, which is a nice break from all the historical biographies I've been reading lately, trying to learn more about Yellowstone and that entire area. Can't believe I still am tired enough to go to bed early, but that's the way it goes! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hi Darlin',
Got up with the alarm, got everything done and headed over to Chelle's to pick her up at 8:30. We had made arrangements to meet the Ace Hardware driver, Ryan, at Buck Island at 9:30, but it gave us time to run by Helen's and pick up her recycling and drop it off at Apex, and also to discuss where to put the mounting block at Apex. We arrived at 9:15, and Ryan was already there! Apparently he came quite early to sit on the dock and have a cup of coffee, can't say I blame him, it's a lovely spot. Chelle and I discussed placement, and Ryan was a whiz at getting down the forklift and putting the block in place. We then proceeded to head to all the rest of the trailheads, repeating the process. It went very smoothly and we were done by noon. We stopped at Winn Dixie on the way back to camp so I could pick up a few things, then back to camp to drop them off, then off to lunch at Willards. I thought Helen would join us, but she begged off at the last minute. Dropped Chelle off and headed home, though by now my knee was in pretty bad shape again, and I was using crutches on our last stop, just to help out a bit. It didn't feel bad this morning, but I guess the walking around today, though it wasn't much, was enough to set it off. Relaxed the rest of the day, resting my knee. I did get a call from the surgeon's office, and the earliest he can see me is May 1! So I'm definitely stuck here for awhile. Thank goodness I have permission to overstay my contract here at the forest. Anyway, a productive day, albeit a bit painful one, I'm thinking about seeing if I can get a volunteer to ride my horses while I'm laid up, I hate to see them languishing while I'm resting. Finished Atlantis, and was disappointed it ended after two seasons, it really turned out to be a good show, though I wasn't sure about it at first. Started a mini-series with Pierce Brosnan, only have a few days before it leaves Prime, so I guess I'll be bingeing that over the weekend. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Darlin'!
First thing I did after my morning chores and breakfast was to get busy finding out about my MRI. Seems the approval did get a little waylaid, but by 11:00, it was confirmed, and I was able to get on the schedule for 3:00 this afternoon. I killed some time, then drove up to Gainesville to a little office behind the dreaded hospital, and after just a short wait, got my MRI done. What a relief! I finally feel like I can now focus on my departure from Florida, even though I don't have a set schedule, at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I did some research and managed to find the best Orthopedic Surgeon in my network, according to Healthgrades, I just hope his schedule isn't so full that it will take weeks to see him. Fortunately he's on the west side of Ocala, so it's not too far away. Fingers crossed all will work out! I discovered, on this first hot day in awhile, that the AC on the truck wasn't working, so I called the mechanic who was supposed to fix it last week, and made an appointment for tomorrow, but then when I got back to camp, I did a little exploring, and quickly learned that the compressor wasn't kicking in. I checked all the fuses, pulling them out and putting them back in again, and the compressor kicked in for a short time. Than I did one fuse at a time and found the likely culprit. I seated it better, though I'll probably go back and clean it up a bit, but at least I know the cause, so I won't have to take it in tomorrow. I also arranged for the trailer repair place to come tomorrow to finish closing off the bottom as promised. See, things that need doing before I leave are starting to happen! I still have some repairs on the trailer, but I think tomorrow, I may just try and go for a ride. Flash has been self-exercising, and I'm afraid if I don't take him out soon, he might become unmanageable (though I doubt it, he's a good boy!) Anyway, things are starting to happen, and I'm looking forward to not hobbling soon! Finished my evening as usual, heading for bed shortly! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Finally, some progress! Though they didn't call me, I had to call them, I did finally find out that my appeal won, and I'm able to get an MRI! Yay! Unfortunately, my doctor's office says they didn't get the notification, so I was scrambling at the end of the day trying to schedule it asap. Turns out my doctor's office gave them a different facility than the one I wanted to go to, and even though I checked with that one I want to go to, who assured me they took my insurance (I hope they do, I had my x-ray there last week!) but according to Cigna, they're not under contract. So now I have to go to Gainesville, to the same facility that I'm sorry to say, treated you so poorly the month before you passed (and who I partially blame for it!). I never wanted to set foot in that place again, but it looks like I may not have a choice, since this HMO seems to be so limited. I have to sort it all out in the morning, but they say they should be able to get me an appointment for the afternoon, the sooner the better! At least there's some progress, and I can look forward to being able to walk straight again, even though it may be months away. I had a useless PT session again today, I have very little faith in these folks that I'm using, I'm sorry to say, and will try to find another one for my post-op (if it comes to that) PT. Got back to camp around 5:00, had a nice chat on the phone with our old friend formerly from Staten Island, Cherryl, who's planning on coming up to WEC this weekend, so I'm hoping to meet up with her there. Meanwhile, another quiet evening once I fed the horses! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Spent another fruitless day making no progress with my knee, watching a lot of TV about Yellowstone Park, it's history and current ecology problems. Other than a couple of loads of laundry, I didn't have the pluck to try to do anything else, not even housekeeping. Every time I take a step I don't know if my knee is going to collapse, or I'm going to hit that spot where the acute pain makes me think I might pass out, or if it's going to hold my weight, or bend, or straighten, I never know! It changes from step to step. Very frustrating. After two weeks of "resting" it's clear to me that rest isn't helping. Sigh... Well, we'll see after tomorrow what needs to be done. Anyway, time for tea and bed. Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hiya Darlin',
Sorry to say my knee is no better, and as I said yesterday, I think it's worse with the icing I've been giving it. Had to struggle feeding the horses on crutches again today, and taking their blankets off and on. Other than that, I spent the entire day in my recliner, watching a series about the history of the West, a topic I've been concentrating on since planning my Yellowstone trip. Despite all the rest and all the icing (and putting a heating pad on my lower back, as that's starting to give me problems now, too), my leg was just as bad when I went to do the evening feeding. This is insanity, I know, especially if they really expect me to do this for another six weeks! Once the decision from the insurance company comes back from the appeal, new plans will be made. Meanwhile, reading and TV are it for the weekend, with the addition of laundry tomorrow. Flash was self-exercising this morning, a sign he's getting just as bored as I am! He's going to be a handful once I'm finally fit enough to get back in the saddle! Meanwhile, off to bed after my usual evening. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Another night of interrupted sleep, ended up not getting up till after 9:00, though I was reading for the last hour. Then I got a robocall from the insurance company telling my MRI request has been denied. Not a happy camper about that, I can tell you, especially when they said I would need to do a complete six week course of PT before they'll approve it. I immediately filed a fast track appeal (decision within 72 hours), since my knee has been bothering me even more lately. Oddly, I think when it was so swollen, it was too full of fluid to bend enough to get to the really painful bit, but now that I've been icing it for the last few days, the swelling has receded enough for my knee to bend farther, and now, it will suddenly hit the painful bit, and it almost makes me collapse. Just the weight of my leg is enough to pull it down that far now. Since I had nothing else to do today but fuss with it, I arranged to have lunch with Helen and DeDe at Willard's and it was very enjoyable, even though I was limping almost as bad as when I was at FITS three weeks ago. I used the crutches again to feed the horses, but even that was dicey, just the smallest movement was causing tremendous pain. I can't see me living with this for another six weeks of doing nothing! Grrr! Anyway, lunch was the only break I had, the rest of the day was icing my knee and putting heat on my lower back, which is naturally starting to give me trouble because of how imbalanced I am now. Not to mention my right leg, which is having to carry all the extra weight. So reading and watching TV was the order of the day again! Bed soon. Love you, sweetie! Good night!