Oh, look, an abandoned house! Yikes - summer has landed and we were surrounded by extremely flammable vegetation nearly six feet tall in some areas. That driveway was so bad we looked like a “foreclosure”. It just totally got ahead of me this year – fortunately one of the boys next door was for hire, and 11.5 hours later he had weedwhacked our entire property from fence to fence to fence. Wildland fires are beyond scary up here!
We had a wonderful trip to Kernville right before Memorial weekend - 1st camping trip totally in the trailer for hubby since the “lay-up”. He did great!! We had 40+ people in our group, so the entire campground was like our own little village! We had two masseuses, (never camp without one!) a great potluck, Lisa made us an adorable cake, and everyone had a great time antiquing and white water rafting. We were really looking forward to our longest trailer trip yet - to Wenatchee, Washington - but Duke probably spent way too much time on his feet and by the next weekend we were battling new open wounds on his left leg. We saw his doctor in Santa Barbara on Wednesday, June 2nd at 2:00, by 5:00 he was all tucked into his hospital bed across the street going through the “welcome back” routine with half the staff and a pack of his favorite visiting therapy dogs. The doctor gave me an A, a B+ and a D- on my wound care. I question the validity of the D-. I was doing the best I could without my OWN prescription pad!! And yeah, Duke was once again ordering his extra grilled ham and cheese sandwiches left and right. Pretty bad when you have this place so dialed in. So, we get that whole thing resolved and he’s home by the June 7.
June 9. Duke falls getting to the bathroom. Yes, I was helping, but about all I could manage to do was ensure he landed ON the toilet and not IN the bathtub. That should count for something, shouldn’t it? Just the last place on the planet anyone wants to be "rescued" from. The night before we’d had some funky blood pressure readings and had already planned on heading down to the Emergency Room in Bakersfield, but gee, he gets another ride in an ambulance! By the time we get "settled" in the ER they have found that his blood pressure is now 58/30 and his kidneys are shutting down! Excuse me? Could you repeat that because it sounded like you said… anyway, it was because of all the antibiotics that he’s been on and his kidneys had just had enough and were done. Didn’t get his hip put back into place for three days, and had him home by June 14.
So. Where are we? Blood pressure normal, kidneys mostly recovered, leg swelling under control and now we’re just waiting until the end of August when Dr. Bliss will repair the damage that Duke did to the hip during that first bad fall. Then, hopefully, we can start making some forward progress.
During one of these Santa Barabara trips, I had two other things happen. While we were gone, I had the repair guys out to replace the water line to our frig (before it broke this time) and while they were back there they found that the heating unit behind the freezer which keeps it frost free had broken off of its little plastic pegs, fallen down on top of the coils, tilted forward, and melted the whole back of the freezer wall. Great. So that meant a brand new frig as soon as I got home. Same day, I get a call from the barn where my elderly horse lives – he somehow had torn a front tendon, and after x-rays and ultrasound, it appeared he had torn 70% of it and was supposed to be on “stall rest” in his heavy duty cast-like bandages for 30 days to see if it would heal. Owner called me back and said, “You know your horse doesn’t do well in a stall.” Yep, I knew that. Warned them in fact. He’s a total idiot indoors. His favorite “indoor” activity is to yank up all the rubber mats from underneath the two feet of shavings, pile them on top of the shavings, and then stand on top of the whole ugly mess and buck in place. Why? Who knows. So, fearing he would injure himself worse, back outside he went. He’s all mended now, and we’ll get shoes back on him next week. These are the kinds of things that happen the MINUTE you pay off your credit card. Or your car. Or any other debt. Things around you overhear the good news, they break, they pass the news along to other things you own, and CHA-CHING… you’re right back where you started! Do not dicusss financial gains anywhere near your vehicles or applicances. Ever.
So, we missed the Washington trip, but bless those sisters of mine! They have been emailing and posting pictues on Facebook the whole time so I don’t feel quite so sorry for myself!
June 9. Duke falls getting to the bathroom. Yes, I was helping, but about all I could manage to do was ensure he landed ON the toilet and not IN the bathtub. That should count for something, shouldn’t it? Just the last place on the planet anyone wants to be "rescued" from. The night before we’d had some funky blood pressure readings and had already planned on heading down to the Emergency Room in Bakersfield, but gee, he gets another ride in an ambulance! By the time we get "settled" in the ER they have found that his blood pressure is now 58/30 and his kidneys are shutting down! Excuse me? Could you repeat that because it sounded like you said… anyway, it was because of all the antibiotics that he’s been on and his kidneys had just had enough and were done. Didn’t get his hip put back into place for three days, and had him home by June 14.
So. Where are we? Blood pressure normal, kidneys mostly recovered, leg swelling under control and now we’re just waiting until the end of August when Dr. Bliss will repair the damage that Duke did to the hip during that first bad fall. Then, hopefully, we can start making some forward progress.
During one of these Santa Barabara trips, I had two other things happen. While we were gone, I had the repair guys out to replace the water line to our frig (before it broke this time) and while they were back there they found that the heating unit behind the freezer which keeps it frost free had broken off of its little plastic pegs, fallen down on top of the coils, tilted forward, and melted the whole back of the freezer wall. Great. So that meant a brand new frig as soon as I got home. Same day, I get a call from the barn where my elderly horse lives – he somehow had torn a front tendon, and after x-rays and ultrasound, it appeared he had torn 70% of it and was supposed to be on “stall rest” in his heavy duty cast-like bandages for 30 days to see if it would heal. Owner called me back and said, “You know your horse doesn’t do well in a stall.” Yep, I knew that. Warned them in fact. He’s a total idiot indoors. His favorite “indoor” activity is to yank up all the rubber mats from underneath the two feet of shavings, pile them on top of the shavings, and then stand on top of the whole ugly mess and buck in place. Why? Who knows. So, fearing he would injure himself worse, back outside he went. He’s all mended now, and we’ll get shoes back on him next week. These are the kinds of things that happen the MINUTE you pay off your credit card. Or your car. Or any other debt. Things around you overhear the good news, they break, they pass the news along to other things you own, and CHA-CHING… you’re right back where you started! Do not dicusss financial gains anywhere near your vehicles or applicances. Ever.
So, we missed the Washington trip, but bless those sisters of mine! They have been emailing and posting pictues on Facebook the whole time so I don’t feel quite so sorry for myself!
