Hi Hon,
Had a good night sleep, felt a bit lazy this morning, almost decided to relax by the pool, but then I decided I had some things to do, and once I got started, there was no stopping me! First I made a big batch of chaney root tea, then I began outside by washing the small horse trailer, it was filthy and covered with algae in a lot of places. I figured if I wanted to fix the rust holes in it, it should at least be clean to start with. After that, I decided to fix the screen door. Lola did a great job of tearing up both the top and the bottom, and I bought some replacement screen the other day. The old screen was aluminum, which held up pretty well, but the new screen is apparently a tough nylon made especially for pets, so hopefully that will do even better. But before I could start, I had to find my screen roller tool, and it was nowhere to be found. Then I couldn’t get one of the drawers open in the tool box, so I had to work on that for a bit, finally discovering that somehow a screwdriver got stuck in a hole in the back of a drawer which prevented it from opening. I managed to hammer out the screwdriver, but couldn’t figure out how to take the whole drawer out to retrieve it, and some other things I could see that had fallen out the back of a drawer to the bottom. After working on that for a while, I finally got online and found a couple of videos on Youtube that offered a couple of choices, the most sensible was one that required a thin piece of metal about 8 or 10 inches long, so I stepped around to the back of the trailer and started walking, and within 15 yards I found the perfect thing laying right on the ground. I guess that’s one advantage to have a yard full of scrap metal! It worked great and I had the drawer out in short order, but not before having to empty all the other drawers. Well, no sense putting all that stuff away without doing some cleaning, so I spent some time wiping everything down and reorganizing, which was really overdue. It’s always amazing how much space you can gain just be rearranging things! Of course, once I got the drawer pulled out, I found several tools in the bottom, including the screen roller tool that set this whole thing in motion. So after finishing that and taking a quick break, I tackled the screen replacement job. I’ve done that so many times now it didn’t take me too long. By the time that job was finished, Amazon had delivered a couple of packages to me, one was a new dimmer switch for the truck, which, according to several different sources online, should hopefully solve my dash illumination problem, though I’m sorry to say that it didn’t once I installed it. Tomorrow’s job is going to be going through each and every fuse to see if I missed it last time I looked. You remember that cool jar opener we had, the one that squeezed together with several different size hole grips, that we think fell under the slide and eventually disappeared? Well, I’ve been looking for one in stores and haven’t found any, so I finally went online and found some exactly like we had. One was about $7, and then there was a package of two for $10, so I got that latter and gave Jeff the second one. Thought he might find it useful, if not now, maybe in the future. I know my hands aren’t always strong enough to open tight jars, and with arthritis in the family, he’s bound to have trouble at some point, too. Anyway, by then it was feeding time, and then I checked that dimmer switch again in the dark just to make sure it still wasn’t working (it wasn’t), had my shower early, watched a few Heartlands, now I’m ready for bed! Whew! Busy day! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hi Babe,
Woke up early this morning, just before the time I had set my alarm, because now that I have a letter from my doctor saying I should get the covid vaccine, I thought I’d try to get an appointment at Publix. What a chaotic mess that was! They open up the appointments just after 7:00, and it took over an hour to just to the point where I could book it, and the nearest was Broward County, and every time I signed up for a time, by the time I finished filling out all the questions, that time was gone. The worst part was I had to practically start from scratch every time one application timed out. I moved it to two or three different stores, getting further and further south until I finally nabbed one in N. Lauderdale. Unfortunately, by the end of the day, I got a call saying they wouldn’t honor it because I wasn’t 65 yet, even with a doctor’s letter. I tried to get it switched over the Jeff, but they wouldn’t even let me do that! What a system! I’ll try again on Monday to get one for him, but I guess I’m stuck until they open it up for a wider audience. This is getting really scary, I’m getting close to losing my health insurance just because I can’t get the dang covid vaccine, because the union where I get my insurance won’t let me just pay for it myself. It’s a crazy system. Anyway, I did a few odd chores during the day, applying some new rust inhibitor on the little horse trailer, and hunting chaney root along the neighbor’s fence line, collecting a nice bunch. Jeff swears that James’ cholesterol plummeted when he started drinking it, and since mine was a bit high on my last bloodwork, I thought I’d give it a try. I’ve dramatically changed my diet, so that will certainly help, but it would be great if this Jamaican root tea actually has some value. It tastes pretty good, too! I planted a few of the bulbs in an extra planter that I had, thought maybe it would keep me supplied after I leave here, though I do intend to stock up before I leave. I have enough for a few weeks now, at least. Hope it works! Die a load of laundry today, too, but now I’m settled down for the evening, heading to shower and bed shortly. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
Was woken up in the middle of the night with the sound of a horse munching outside my window, looked out to discover Frost was wandering around. A couple of times when someone else has put him away they’ve forgotten to put up the fence, but I’ve always caught it in time to pen him in, though Jeff did it yesterday and he doesn’t usually forget, but evidently he did last night. Rosie woke me up barking a couple of times, no doubt because Frost wasn’t supposed to be out there, but I left it until I got up in the morning before putting Frost away. No worries, he deserves to be out and about a bit more than he has been. Left around noon to pick up some rust neutralizing stuff at Ace Hardware in Tequesta that Karl had recommended, then stopped for fuel, a quick stop at Publix for some veggies to munch on, then another day of PT for my shoulder. I’m beginning to believe that it might just be possible to finally get it back where it belongs, my therapist, Allie, seems to know exactly what she’s doing, so fingers crossed, eventually it will get back to normal, after ten long years of not being right. We’ll see, it’s still early days, but I’m hopeful. Got home by 5:00, did the chores fairly early (Jeff’s been making a good effort lately to feed earlier, thank goodness), and then settled down for the evening. Guess that’s all the news that’s fit to print! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Babe,
A good night sleep started the day off right, getting my chores done in short order. I made some phone calls, one of which was to the clinic where I’ll be getting my physical therapy, to see if I can start up my shoulder sessions while I wait for my knee surgery, the other to the auto repair place to set up an appointment for them to inspect the suspension on the truck just to see if I need new shocks (which I’m sure I do since we’ve never changed them), or maybe a new leaf under the bed, just to make sure I don’t have any problems on the road, considering how over-weighted I am (the trailer, that is!). I set both appointments for tomorrow, then I got a call back from the clinic to ask if I wanted to come in today, and since I figured the sooner the better, I said yes! When I got there in the afternoon, I was thrilled to get the sense that this girl really knew her stuff, she listened carefully, took copious notes, then physically seemed to pinpoint exactly where my problem is, so I’m hoping that by the end of this, my shoulder will FINALLY, after ten years, get back into place! She’s also the one I’ll be working with on my recovery from knee surgery, so I’m really glad for that, too. Afterwards, I stopped at Home Depot to pick up a few supplies for some upcoming repairs I want to make. There’s a rusty hole forming in the roof of the small trailer, and a few other rust spots starting to bleed through the paint, so I sprayed it this morning with some rust neutralizer, then bought some spray paint and sandpaper so I can finish off those sections. I’m going to find a piece of scrap metal and JB weld it over the hole to keep it from leaking any more. Fortunately it’s in the tack room section and not the back area where all the hay is being stored, but it will only get worse if I don’t fix it now. I also bought a new screen for the door to the trailer, Lola’s been running roughshod over it for the past few weeks and there are a lot of holes in the old one, so that’s another chore I’ll try to do this weekend or at least before my knee surgery. I’ve made three more appointments for physical therapy before then, I’m really optimistic that this is going to work, at last! I hope I won’t be disappointed again! Anyway, finally settled down for the evening, off to bed soon! Cheers, my love! Good night!

Hi Sweetie,
After a long drive to Weston just west of Ft. Lauderdale this morning, and hours of prepping and waiting, and what seemed like just two or three minutes into my cardiac cath procedure, the doctor declared the stress test was wrong and that there’s nothing wrong with my heart. No excessive plaque or buildup, nothing that impinges on my progress towards knee surgery. That’s especially good news, because I was told for the first time that if they HAD had to put in a stint, it would have delayed my knee surgery by SIX MONTH!! That would have been a disaster! Glad it was a good report, but sorry this has all delayed my knee surgery by almost three weeks. Sigh… Stopped at Turtle Tavern on the way back, as it was peirogi night, got back by 5:30 just as James was in the process of feeding the horses. Jeff and I finished it off, then I settled down for the night. Guess some progress was made, good to have a medical baseline for myself, now I only have my knee surgery to look forward to! Can’t wait! No shower tonight because of the wrist bandage, so now I’m off to bed. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
A pretty decent night sleep, another lazy, do-nothing day! Can’t wait until my knee is fixed, I feel like everything is on hold, and it’s hard to get up any energy to do anything in that state of mind. I thought I might ride today, but it was very breezy, and I’m not a big fan of that. Plus, I’m still worried it might exacerbate my knee problem, so I’ve been holding off. I probably should have gone, but just couldn’t get myself up for it. I’m just not used to all this laziness! Or all this time to even BE lazy! But next week is likely to be a bit busier, hopefully it will provide some stimulation to get me going. Finished a series of books that I was reading, watched a few Heartlands, now it’s time for shower and bed. Good night, my love!

Hi Babe,
Despite all the rest yesterday, I had another good night sleep last night. Other than going to Publix to pick up a few things and down to the CVS to get a quick covid test in anticipation of my heart procedure on Tuesday, I spent the day pretty much doing the same lazy things as yesterday. I considered going for a ride but there was a cool breeze after a cold front came through last night, so instead I read most of the day, took another afternoon nap, watched more Heartlands in the evening, now I’m ready for shower and bed. Not sure why I don’t have a lot of get up and go, but it’s not because I feel ill or anything, I just feel like taking a break or something. Anyway, it will be getting busy in the next few weeks, so I guess it won’t hurt to make a few deposits in the sleep bank! Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hey Darlin’,
Even after having a good night sleep, I felt tired today, and ended up doing virtually nothing but read all day. It was a bit too warm outside, then some storms came through, so I ended up staying in the trailer all day, even going back to bed in the afternoon because I kept falling asleep in my chair. Not sure what’s up with that, but I figured it was best to just go with it. Had an equally quiet evening, so it’s off to bed soon. Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetheart,
Had a good night sleep, now that things have settled down a bit. I managed to make a morning appointment for a lab test, something about checking for how thin my blood is, though considering I’m not taking any medications it should be pretty normal. I stopped at a couple of auto repair places to see about inspecting the suspension on the truck, maybe putting airbags in. One guy couldn’t look at it until next week, another one not until tomorrow. As I was coming up the drive, Jeff was talking to his neighbor Mike, who’s a pretty good mechanic himself, and he told me that he’s had problems with airbags, a lot of things can go wrong with them, and suggested maybe just shocks (since I’m pretty sure they’ve never been replaced) and many another leaf spring just for extra capacity. I hadn’t thought of that, but that makes a lot more sense to me, not to mention will be a lot less expensive. I need to find a truck specialist for it, though, that’s my next project when I have a chance. Jeff FINALLY got around to getting some chemicals and new filters for the pool, so this morning it was actually looking really nice, and it’s been such a hot couple of days the pool temp is up to 80, so I decided to take the afternoon off and just float around for awhile. Brother Glenn and wife Dena joined me for quite a while, got some nice sun, and wore Lola out with lots of fetching and swimming. Jeff had a service call, so James and I fed the horses, got that done in short order, then settled down for the evening. Ready for my shower, reading and bed, so good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Well, after days of running around trying to put everything in order for my surgery tomorrow, today I had disappointing news. I went up to Stuart for the second half of my stress test, which was simply to get a “resting” reading to compare to yesterday’s stress reading, and in the process, they discovered what they think is a blocked or partially blocked artery to my heart. That meant my cardiac doctor wouldn’t give clearance for the the surgery, so that had to be postponed. Unfortunately, they tried to get it rescheduled for next week, but the operating rooms are all fully booked, so it will now be at least two weeks until I can get my knee fixed, unless there’s a cancellation and they can fit me in next week. In the meantime, I have to undergo a cardiac cath, or angiogram, where they send a camera to my heart and try to clear out any plaque building with one of those balloon deals, or worst case, put in a stint. This was the procedure they did to you when we think they put in too much dye that eventually caused your kidney failure. I’m sure they’ve improved that protocol since then, but you can bet I’m going to ask about it! Unfortunately, that’s not scheduled until Tuesday, and in the meantime, I have to have another blood test done to check the thinness of my blood, and a THIRD covid test on Saturday. The only silver lining in all this may be that this will be considered an underlying condition and I might be able to get the covid vaccine earlier, which means I might be able to get back on the union insurance quicker. Fingers crossed! I guess it’s a good thing this was caught early, though, I just wish it didn’t mean delaying my knee surgery, it’s just getting more painful every day. Anyway, after spending most of my afternoon on the phone trying to resolve all of this, I finally settled down for the evening. Had my shower, now I’m off to bed, late! And certainly a lot later than if I had get up at 4:00 in the morning! Good night, darlin’! Love you!