Say What?

It's been 5 days since Tammy's hip replacement surgery. Her doctor told me the surgery went very well. He also commented that she had very little loss of blood during the procedure. He'll often see a loss of 1000cc in patients but Tammy only lost a tenth of that. I'm not sure what that speaks to if anything. He also noted a bone spur in her hip that was causing her a lot of pain. She stayed overnight in the care facility there at Twin City Orthopedics and I picked her up at 6:00 the next morning, which was a solid 2 days too soon (but apparently, that's how it's done). The narcotics prescribed for pain have left her confused, tired, and confined to a bed we have set up in our den. Rachel came by over the weekend and spent the better part of 2 days with us, giving me some pointers on my duties as a CNA (certified nursing assistant). She was so helpful. A nurse has stopped by our home a couple of times as well as a physical therapist. The nurse became concerne...

A friend mentioned that she hadn't seen Reid on Facebook and wondered if he'd deleted his account. I hadn't noticed so I took a look and sure enough, he was gone. I'd sent him a text the day before to show him my new wheels, so when he responded I asked him what's up. He said he was on a 21 day Facebook fast and that he was thinking of making it permanent because he didn't miss it. I had just deleted the app from my phone the previous day and had been toying with the idea of taking an extended break from it as well. In the 10 years I've been on the site, I've never broken from it for more than a few days. There was a time when I loved the site and the connections I made there but whatever benefits remained were being overshadowed by my frustration with many of my friends/connections who disappoint me with their pro-Trump* nonsense and conservative media talking-points that crumble under the slightest scrutiny. I always believed we were collectively sma...

I have a new certification: Homebrewer. I've spent the last few weeks nurturing a glass jug of homebrew in the closet of our den, making sure the temp was just right so as not to shock the contents of the fermenting cider within. Friday was bottling (and tasting) day. My yield was 8 bottles of sweetened hard apple cider, one of which has Rachel's name on it. I honestly didn't have very high hopes that it would be very palatable but it's actually not bad at all. I would like to give it a go again in a few weeks but first I think I want to take a class in homebrewing because I think there's more I need to know than what I was able to glean from the directions in my starter-kit to more fully enjoy the experience and get the most from it. I've added a new bike to my stable of bikes. I've been wanting a gravel bike since last spring when I noticed how much harder I was having to work on my fat-tire bike to keep up with others on their gravel bikes during the M...

I've been having some wild dreams lately. I had a recurring dream last night, a dream I haven't had in several years, and each time I experience it, I'm left wondering if there's something in my life that I'm neglecting. It started out with me standing by the side of our home, looking up at an airplane that had lost its wings. It was using an engine on its tail to thrust it forward in an erratic way. I watched as it flew out of control, certain it would crash at any moment. A helicopter appeared next to the doomed aircraft and hovered overhead. My neighbor, Tom, a pilot for Delta was watching with me. But then something else caught my attention. I noticed a trap door in our front flower garden that led to a lighted room beneath the garage. I realized then that my dog Sparky was down there and that I had forgotten about him. I last said goodbye to Sparky (in real life) in 1983 when I moved to Huron, SD and I couldn't take him with me. In my dream, it had been m...

Over the past several months I've become somewhat preoccupied with thoughts of how fast my life is passing by. It's kind of disturbing. Weeks, months, and years fly by like I'm in some sort of time warp. I think in terms now of how many more years of mobility I have left to live the active lifestyle I enjoy. It's not something I take for granted. Do I have 15 more years? 20? Maybe 25, tops? All I know for certain is that whatever amount of time remains in this active phase of my life, it's going to pass much too quickly. Now, more than ever, I have a difficult time sitting still for very long and watching my remaining time here slip away at a pace that saddens me. I've got at least a dozen books I'd like to read but I tell myself there will be plenty of time for reading in my next phase of life. We've been enjoying a mild winter in the Minneapolis area. I wouldn't mind some snow and cooler temps to make for decent trail riding. The temp inside our ...

If this mild weather continues, we may be back to a snowless landscape by the end of the week. I prefer the look of snow rather than the browns of the alternative during the winter months but I'm content either way. Not having to muck out the garage floor from the snow melting off our vehicles is a bonus. I took advantage of today's warm temps (40º f / 4.4º c) to put on my walking shoes and do my Orchard Lake loop . It's an 8.7-mile loop that I do in around 2 hours—a little longer if I'm stopping to take photos. It felt nice to have the sun on my face. I saw this little guy  working his way across the sidewalk and it had me wondering, what do caterpillars do during the harsh winter months? I looked online and came up with this: "They find a protected place to rest and enter a type of hibernation called diapause, where their body functions decrease and their growth pauses until they wake. Many wrap themselves in leaves or other organic matter, holding it in place ...

It was two years ago today that Allie left us. That was such a sad time. Toby (Allie's littermate) is coming up on 15 years 4 months. His hearing is mostly gone and his vision is very limited but he seems content. I know his time with us is short. He's reluctant to go walking in the colder temps but when I last had him out about 10 days ago with Charlie, he led us in a run most of the last tenth of a mile home. It's been nearly a year since we've done the Fleet Farm loop (as I refer to it) on our walks and I'm fairly certain he'll never do it again. It was a favorite walk of Toby's because the roads that took us by Fleet Farm added an extra mile to our walk. I always let Toby lead us and I would smile when he'd tug at his leash to take us across Jonquil Trail in the direction of the roads that would take us by Fleet Farm. He knew exactly what he was doing. He would come home, drink his fill from his water bowl then splay out on the wood floor, panting wi...