Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #4 – A Lot of Progress This Week!

 

Sunday, January 22^nd., 2023……  We’ve had off and on rain this last week. Yesterday, we had a few nice showers. But it’s supposed to be dry this week. John showed up this morning to finish up his roofing job. He has a 50-mile drive (from a little town north of us called Aurora) but he still was here before 8:00am. Sunday was the only day he had to finish up this small side job for Russ. He was here most of the day but when he left, we were thrilled with his job. Everything matches and it looks like it’s part of the roof. Meanwhile, we spent a cold dreary day here at home. Well, Cathye did go off to church but when she got back, she settled in under her blanket and rested for the day. She had stayed for the church potluck and brought me home a plate with lasagna, meatloaf, green salad, and potato salad and apple pie. So, needless to say, I was full and didn’t want dinner!

I am close to booking our shore excursions for the cruise. I will share more on that as we get closer to July. But we wanted to get everything booked because prices fluctuate and even went up since last month! Treasa and Bill are booking theirs as well this week. Tv until bedtime.     

Monday, January 23^rd., 2023…… No rain today. We are still going through cold temps this week though. It was 33° this morning when we took the dogs out! There was a little frost on the ground and some slick spots we had to avoid, but overall it was a nice crisp morning walk. I’m feeling back to normal and Cathye is dealing with the stomach issues but doing well too. The electricians showed up this morning. At 7:15am!  Both Russ and I had a conversation about romex vs conduit under the patio roof. He spoke to the guys and they said they can’t do romex due to ‘wet’ conditions and said the inspector would never pass it. Plus it would cost us again to have them undo it and use conduit. So, easy choice - conduit it is! They got to work, first walking through the job amongst themselves for a game plan, then went to work in the house garage, where they laid the conduit all the way from the circuit box

And down through to the crawl space.  Then they were outside on the deck drilling and running those lines both under the old deck and out into the new space.

Of course, I have complicated things because I want switches for certain items on the outside, others on the inside. On the wall to the outside where the patio deck lights are now, they had to remove one of my three-ways for the lights over the tv (which we didn’t use) which will now be the on-off switch for the security light way out on the end. The fan under the patio needs to be on a switch out there so that was also set up. Toward the latter part of the day, they crawled under the house and got the lines run for the spa and the rest of the lights. At the end of the day, they had the rough-in completed. They won’t come back until Russ gets farther along so they can use the deck to get up to the rafters and complete the job. I also have to get the spa set in place so they will have to come back again for that as well. Meanwhile, Russ and his guy have got all of the blocking in and are ready for the deck boards, which will be here on Wednesday.  I, for the most part, just hung around the house. Cathye had to make a trip over to Albany to go to the Social Security office to clear up an issue. Back last May, she went there and got her name changed and got a new social security card. But her last year’s statement came in last week and it was under McCracken. Turns out they messed it up. They told her for some reason that their systems didn’t talk to each other! Anyway, it’s fixed and we’re good to go.     

Tuesday, January 24^th., 2023…… Still really cold here!  Temps in the low thirties and no sunshine so it’s not warming up much during the day!  Cathye needed to go over to her old trailer park to drop off a note. When she ordered the stair lights through eBay, she missed that they would be delivered to her old address, so I wrote a note to ask that whoever may receive them gives us a call to pick up. She stayed and her and Judy (who lives in that park) went off to have lunch together. I stayed here and watched the deck progress. The guys finished up the starburst at the end of the deck. I think it looks awesome!

Tomorrow the decking will be delivered. Yaay!   

Wednesday, January 25^th., 2023…… We got up early and walked and fed the girls and then went off to Kevin’s for breakfast. He was closed so we went to Shari’s.  Not even close but it would do in a pinch!  After that, we came back and hung around the house. Cathye made a run to Walmart and I worked on my chandelier project for her office. I had already asked the electricians for some advice since this thing is super heavy. He looked at the box and made recommendations. So, I took off this morning to go get a mounting brace from Lowe’s. Problem is I can’t seem to get the old one out!  I’m thinking it’s screwed in between the ceiling rafters. So, now it will be Corey’s job to crawl up there and work with me to get it removed and the new one installed. Maybe next week.  I cleaned up the mess I made (we have blown-in insulation in the attic) and settled in to watch the Barrett-Jackson auction I have recorded. The guys ended the day after removing the old deck boards. Poor Rylee. She is so confused now because there is no floor out there! At the end of the day, the new Fiberon deck boards and three buckets of hidden fasteners were delivered and staged. Later, we had our favorite mac and cheese (from Costco) and watched tv until bedtime.        

Thursday, January 26^th., 2023…… The guys were here early and got to work. Today, they hope to add all of the additional floor joists to the old patio. Plus, they have another nice black metal feature to add to the other end of the roof truss. They had the ladder up ready to start that project, but, they shocked me when I saw they were adding structure all around the edges of the new deck!  I asked and was told it was because since we are doing a ‘picture frame’ wrap on all of the edges, he needed to support the area so he can nail and the fascia in.  Duuh!  The picture frame is called Expresso and is just like it sounds – dark brown. The main body will be a much lighter color called Tuscan Villa. The darker color will also be at the fascia all around the deck plus at the step down to the second deck level to make it easier to see. It will look good we think. But the best news was that he was ready to start laying the deck today!  I didn’t think it through but it made sense to do all of the picture frame edges first. That way they can just lay in the other colored deckboards in between. This is what they ended up with before it got time to go home for the day….

All of the metal columns will be wrapped with wood which will have a finished edge down to the deck. You can also see the electricians rough in for the receptacle that will be on that column.  Needless to say, we are thrilled to see all of the total progress at this point! I think tomorrow they will have the rest of the decking done – at least for the lower level. The inspector was called to do the final on the structure. That is the only thing on the permit because a permit is not required for the deck. He found a couple of things he wants Russ to address but also asked about the rough-in for the gas lines that were put in for the bbq and the fire pit.  They are out of scope of the permit but he can make a fuss if he wants to. Russ and he don’t get along so this could go south in a hurry!  We’ll address that later. Meanwhile, poor Rylee just can’t grasp the fact that she can’t be out on the porch right now!  She just stands or lays at the slider and looks out.

She even tried jumping down between the joists and had trouble turning around to jump back up into the house!  I can imagine her thinking, “Hey, get this done so I can go out on my porch again!” Hopefully, this will be over soon. Later, we fed the girls and then left to go meet Ron and Teri for dinner at Seeds. It’s nice to get out with another couple now and then and we made plans for more nights. Maybe game night next time! Back home and tv until bedtime.

Friday, January 27^th., 2023…… It rained a little last night. So, that means the temps go back up. Yeah, I know, that sounds crazy. But the rain clouds kind of work as an insulator to raise the ground temps up a bit. But that doesn’t work in the higher elevations where they are getting snow. As mentioned before, we are at around 340 ft. above sea level here so we won’t get it unless it’s under extreme conditions.  But the rains held off today and the guys were here and got going early. They made great progress…

and got all of this done by end of day!  It feels so good to get to this stage now that it looks like a deck finally!  Material for the upper deck got delivered late in the day, so they won’t get to that until next week but we did put out a piece of plywood up there so butthead can come and go again!  She’s happy!  She likes to sit out and survey her domain. Now she can do it from her new deck!

 

We decided to go down to Eugene to see 80 for Brady!  Even though he’s not my favorite player, we still love comedy. But it doesn’t come out until next week, so we had to put that on hold for now and so we just stayed home.

Saturday, January 28^th., 2023……  This morning we were up and had the dogs out and fed and decided to do a road trip down to Eugene for chicken fried steak at The Prairie Schooner. Russ had mentioned that he might come over for a few hours to work by himself but we didn’t expect he would. Turns out he did!  He got the section completed where the bbq will go. He has removed the bbq line and covered it with decking. He also did the same for the fire pit access.

Since he was gone when we got back from Eugene, we didn’t get his thinking but I think he’s hoping that when the inspector comes back, he will see that we removed everything and just sign off on the permit. Then we can reconnect the lines at the end of the job. We’ll talk on Monday. We settled in for the rest of the day and watched tv and kept warm. Soup for dinner and more tv until bedtime.  

Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #3 – A Few Procedures & A Lot More Progress on the Deck!

 

Sunday, January 15^th., 2023……  Weather is still rainy and cold. We took the dogs out anyway and dried them off and gave them breakfast. They still like their time outside with Grammy and Grampy.  They love the rain!  Well, Rylee does anyway! Cathye headed off to church and I hung around the house today. John came back today and had to work in the rain. He discovered that he had to remove and reinstall the flashing around the skylights because he didn’t look at the directions for this particular brand! Dumb move which took several hours to fix. Even with everything else going smoothly, he still only got 3/4's of the roof completed and will have to come back – but it will be next weekend because he has regular work schedule this week. 

Monday, January 16^th., 2023…… Since today is MLK holiday, the guys didn’t show up. But we’re not sure their next steps anyway. There is no material for the deck frame here so they will have to wait on that for now. Meanwhile, we wait. Cathye goes in tomorrow for a scan so she is on a restricted diet today. They want to take a look at her gall bladder, which may be the root of her gastro pain.     

Tuesday, January 17^th., 2023…… Busy day today. Cathye's scan is in Lebanon at 7:30am. Pointe Pest Control will be here sometime today. We both have haircuts starting at 10:00am. No worries. Cat took off and was gone maybe 45 minutes. Then I went out and got breakfast for me. She is still on her restricted food intake. Tomorrow is her endoscopy/colonoscopy. She starts her fluid purge this afternoon, so I’m on my own for meals today.  If you’ve ever had one or both of these procedures, you know the prep is worse than the procedure! But she’s a trooper and followed the rules with her diet today and started the liquid at 4:00pm. It was pretty tough but she got through it well. Next stage is tomorrow at 5:00am!  The guys were here early and worked on bolting the roof beams down. They also dug four more holes for sono tubes. These are for more concrete pads to support the extra weight under the spa area. Tomorrow they will pour those. 

Wednesday, January 18^th., 2023……  We were up and going around 4:30 this morning. Cathye finished off her ‘yummy’ drink and actually felt pretty good. We left for Corvallis around 8:00am. I was not allowed in the place with her so I only got to drop her off. I did go to breakfast and run a few errands in the local stores in Corvallis, then settled in and read and then napped in the car. They called later and put the doctor on speaker. Everything went well. There are a few problem areas to be addressed with the gastro people on her visit there next month. But, she feels like 100% just to get it over with. I know how that feels! After we left there, I had to take her to Starbucks for a chai latte and an egg and cheese sandwich. As I said, I had breakfast, so I drove across the street and hit Arby’s. I guess she was still hungry when she saw the Hawaiian Bun Fish Sandwich and had me order one for her. We ate and drove back home. When we got there, we saw the guys had poured the concrete in the last of the tubes and called it a day. We also saw a large load of pressure treated lumber was delivered and unstacked. Yaay! Tomorrow they will start the framing.  We both were tired from the lack of sleep, so we rested for the day. Later, Cat ordered a pizza for dinner. We watched some of our taped programs before calling it a night.     

Thursday, January 19^th., 2023…… Great sleep last night! She’s back to feeling ok. She will be dealing with her gastro pain but right now can go back to the meds she had to quit for the tests so she hopefully that will help get her back to normal again. We walked and fed the dogs, then drove up to The Point in Sweet Home for breakfast. The gastro office called to go over what her doctor told us yesterday and asked how she was doing and didn’t seem to be concerned about getting her in sooner. They mentioned her gall bladder and said they will focus on that as the potential problem and will go over treatment and next steps at her appointment. The guys were here early and got the beams positioned and leveled. It’s not complicated, but they are working hard to make sure it’s 100% right which I appreciate! This is about mid-day.

And this is end of day.

We left before they were done because we had to take Jama in to the vet for her scheduled checkup and shots.  Once we were done, we came back and fed the girls and fixed dinner and relaxed for the rest of the day. I heard from Treasa that she had booked their flight here and back before and after our cruise in July. It will be nice to see them and spend time here since Bill has never seen our place. We still need to coordinate and then finalize bookings for our shore excursions. More on that as we decide…. Meanwhile, Cherrelyn is headed down to California to help out a friend and also to see her dad, who is having some medical issues. Fingers crossed….     

Friday, January 20^th., 2023…… Nothing on the agenda today for us. We expect to see the deck underlayment done today.  Turns out they got 90% of it completed!  Cool!  

We made our 50% payment for the electrical work today. Russ is not licensed for electrical in Oregon. We have some issues about conduit vs romex which really affects their estimate! Will solve that when they come on Monday for stage one. We have already ordered the low-voltage stair lights, which will be here next week.  I went online and looked at security lights. I think we will settle for just one with three moveable lights for the peak of the new patio roof. That will help keep track of butthead when she heads out to the far reaches of the yard! We originally wanted can lights under the patio cover but since it will be left as open rafters and clearcoated, we now want to change that to an outdoor fan w/light out there. We want a tropical look so we’re also online looking at some with leaf-shaped fan blades.

We had Penny and Jody over for game night. They brought Mariglee, Penny’s neighbor to join us. We opened up wine and fireball and had some light snacks. We played Mexican Train for a few hours. It was a really fun evening!

Saturday, January 21^st., 2023……  As mentioned in earlier post, the roofer did not finish last weekend. So, we thought he might be here today. Not!  The guys didn’t work the weekend either so today nothing got done. Cathye had an urge to go see the King Tide today. I wasn’t as enthusiastic as she was so she called and Lona said she’d like to go. They left and were gone for most of the day. She posted these pics….

I watched the two playoff games and relaxed. I’m also working on installing a new ceiling fan for Cat’s office. I unboxed it and was surprised how heavy it is! Here is a pic of the one she wanted. It's a chandelier/fan and is really cool looking!

 

Because of the weight, work came to a halt.  I’m now anticipating having to beef up the support in the ceiling to support that monster!  Hopefully, I can get that done from below with a rafter mounting bracket. Anyway, it’s on hold for now…

I went online and placed orders for both the security light and the patio fan. Both are scheduled for delivery either tomorrow or Monday.  

Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #2 – Birthday Wishes for Friend and Family & Good Progress on the Roof!

 

Sunday, January 8^th., 2023…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS! The plan today is to go out to Willamette Vineyards for lunch and relaxation. Cherrelyn put the thing together. We will share in the cost. We walked and fed the dogs. They sure like the morning walks and all of the smells!

Later, Cherrelyn came to meet us at sis’s house and we left in my car with the birthday girl! We had to leave before 11:45am to make our 12:30pm reservation. We have indoor seating so if it rains, we’ll be ok. Penny did not know where we were going until we got close. She has been many times and directed me to the parking lot and we headed in. We had a table next to the window. It was very cloudy and rainy but the view was still nice. We each chose our favorite wines and entrees. Cat and I each had steak. The girls got hamburgers. All the food was terrific and the wine was very tasty. The only problem was the service! We asked twice for water, my table charcuterie plate didn’t come out until right as the meal was served, the server seemed to be on Zoloft she was so not even there, and no birthday celebration! Needles to say, the tip reflected her poor performance! But otherwise, the day was wonderful!  Penny and Cherrelyn said they enjoyed the whole experience.  Cathye is a lightweight on alcohol so she had a REALLY nice time. We got back home and crashed for the rest of the day. Fun day!

Monday, January 9^th., 2023……  Work continues on the deck!  The guys are here now all day so they make some progress each day. Healthwise, I am doing great!  We check and chart bp and pulse ox a couple of times each day. Nothing out of the ordinary. The Holden monitor results came back. They show continuing afib (not unexpected) but the numbers coincide with my bp and heartrate on our chart. The doctor has discontinued the water pill and potassium because my lungs and heart are clear now. I am still on the beta blocker as a preventative. Echo is this Saturday.   

Tuesday, January 10^th., 2023…… HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANDIE!  We walked and fed the dogs and then checked in with the guys before heading off to Albany for breakfast at Elmer’s and then on to Costco. After we ate, we called and wished Sandie a happy birthday and then headed in to get some stuff at Costco. When we got back, they had the fascia and rafter tails all cut. Next step is the roof. After they left, we talked about changes. While we were at Elmer’s, we noticed the ceiling in there. They had tongue and groove above the rafters. So, when we got back, we made a change order. Instead of exposed plywood under the roof, we are opting for the tongue and groove. The original plan was to paint all of the new wood a regular white, which will be the color of the trim on the house (whenever we make that commitment to paint!). Now, since the tongue and groove is so pretty, we are thinking about leaving it and just clearcoating everything!  We were able to get that info to Russ and he got us a new quote for the upgrade. Turns out he could place the order for delivery first thing tomorrow! Yeah! We will take the hit but I think it will be much better than plain plywood.    

Wednesday, January 11^th., 2023……  We were right!  They delivered the load of t&g and it looks beautiful! 

They went right to the install and got it going.

At the end of the day, they had half of it done!  You can begin to see what it will look like from underneath!

Thursday, January 12^th., 2023…… The goal for the deck work is to get the roof ready for the roofer (subcontracted) to come in on Saturday. The guys finished up the t&g and installed the four skylight framing. That makes a BIG difference and lets in a lot of light which we wanted.

Friday, January 13^th., 2023…… Not much work going on today outside.  Housecleaning comes today so the inside would get done!  The guys came in for a few minutes and finished up some trim work. The plan changed from Russ doing the underlayment and skylights to the roofer doing all of that on Saturday. We waited until the girls got here to do the housecleaning and then we left them alone and went out for a breakfast road trip. Since we had plenty of time, I wanted to drive us either south to Eugene to The Prairie Schooner or north to Salem to The Original Pancake House. Cathye chose north so we split the giant apple pancake!

It is surprisingly not overly sweet and has a lot of egg so we had our protein as well!  After that, we drove back home. Like I said, not much done on the roof but the house looked great!  Those girls always do a terrific job! We hung around the house for the day and then Cathye asked about dinner. Well, since we were going to have leftovers, I asked her to go on a dinner date. It was time for seafood and we were heading south to Eugene. This time I got to choose and picked The Fisherman’s Market in downtown Eugene. Parking was tough but we got lucky and got a spot. Cat got a call from Corey and while we were talking to him in the car, a guy walked another man over to the steps of the restaurant. He looked a little shaken up. Then another guy followed with a bicycle that was broke in half. Apparently, he got hit just to the north of us!  We went in and passed them by and he seemed to be awake and alert. We found out later that he had robbed some store across the street and fled on his bike right out into traffic and got hit. While we were waiting for our dinner, we saw the paramedics and the police tending to him and the traffic congestion he caused.  We said that he was lucky to be alive but stupid and would be in cuffs and hauled off to jail!  We got back home and let the dogs out and then watched tv until bedtime.  Busy day!

Saturday, January 14^th., 2023……  John is the roofer and came in this morning around 8:00am. We were just getting up and going. The girls went out to greet him and both did their business and since it was staring to rain, we skipped our walk. I went over a few things and asked a few questions and he got going. He was by himself but said Russ was coming by to drop off something. He got the tar paper, drip edge, and flashing all installed and the edge course in place. We pretty much left him alone for the day. Later in the morning, Penny came by with Jody. She is in from Utah and visiting with sis for a few days. I stayed with them until they left and then I had to leave for my echo. I had received a text reminder yesterday that caused some confusion but I cleared it up with a phone call. I thought I was going to the Lebanon Hospital Imaging Center but the message said Albany General. Good thing I saw that! I had to leave a little earlier to drive to Albany but I timed it right and made it and signed in and got the echo done. The girl was really nice and the whole procedure only took about 35 minutes. They are not allowed to give any results but I was reassured that things looked ok. She said she wasn’t worried and said that if there was an issue (like a blood clot or something), I wouldn’t be allowed to go home! I stopped and got myself lunch and then drove back home. At the end of the day, John had about ½ of the work done and said he would be back tomorrow. He is slow and meticulous which I like. Just sorry he has to work on a Sunday! Not much to see so pics will come tomorrow.    

Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #1 – A Good Week and a Bad Week!

 

Sunday, January 1^st., 2023……  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!   Weather is not too bad today. No rose parade (they don’t do them on Sundays) but there were still games to watch on tv, so I was good. I am also working on my list/binder for the races and auctions in 2023. I have them so far for motocross and Nascar and Mecum but still need to find F1 and IndyCar. I am bummed that some of the races are only going to be on streaming service (i.e. Peacock). I have Peacock but it’s on a different tv (still have to see if I can get it on others) but I don’t like that! Still have to get printer ink cartridges before I can print and assemble.

Monday, January 2^nd., 2023……  The guys were back today and did some cutting on the posts.

They need to attach the brackets on them but they needed to laser level and then cut to finish height. Looks good!  The weather is better today. It’s still pretty cold and off and on rain but they will work through that!  I have been feeling better.  Still have some coughing and labored breathing when I walk.

Tuesday, January 3^rd., 2023……  The guys were back today and welded all of the brackets in place. Pics later. Next step is installing all of the glue lams. I am feeling much better but still some issues with breathing. She has me using the pulse-oximeter to record my oxygen level and my heart rate.  Cathye called her daughter in New Hampshire because she is a respiratory therapist and wanted her opinion on my condition. She recommended that I at least go get a chest x-ray so it will be on file, even if it’s clear. I know I’m feeling better each day but I’m up against a wall!  So, I sent a message to my doctor via MyChart to ask for an x-ray and maybe a Zpak. We’ll wait to see…..

Wednesday, January 4^th., 2023……  Today was my drs. Appointment. They responded to my MyChart message and called me first thing to set up an appointment later this morning. We went in together because Cathye has never met Sally.  She checked out my lungs and said they were clear and I probably had the newest virus out there (I think she id’d it as RSV), but she says it looks like it has already run its course on me. A Zpak wouldn’t help at this point. But, she wanted to run an ekg on me. She came back in and shocked both of us saying I have afib! I’m sure everyone knows what that is but her explanation is easy for me to remember – the two upper sections of the heart are pumping out of sync with the bottom two. Could result in blood clots which could lead to a stroke. Well, that was a shock! She printed out the symptoms. Actually, in addition to shortness of breath, I have felt a little bit of all of them to some extent over the last 20 years or so. I am told that everyone will have afib if they live long enough. There are over 12 million people with it in the US! Anyway, once I was over the shock, I got some more advice. She wants me on aspirin, and a mild level blood thinner and scheduled labs on the way out plus set up a 48-hr. heart monitor plus she wants an echo as well. I did the labs and later she added Lasix because they showed my BNP levels were too high. I got the call to come in for the monitor later in the day. We went off and did that. Took less than 15 minutes.  So, I now have this little thing hanging around my neck with 4 snap-on leads taped to me. I was given instructions for wearing and for removal on Friday. She said the results would go to a review panel and then be forwarded to Sally, with recommendations. My echo is not until next week so I anticipate that she will wait on that as well and then get me a referral to a cardiologist. A cardiologist!  Welcome to getting old! The good news is that I don’t feel any different than before my virus, and Sally says she is being proactive and added that she is not overly concerned at this time and she’s happy we caught it early. Me too!  With the added lab results, she is being even more proactive. Cathye feels a lot better just knowing that I am being treated. Me too. I am actually looking forward to meeting with a cardiologist to get all of this in context and plan for next steps.

When we got back from the monitor install, we saw that the guys had been busy! The glue lams are going in!  I took this photo at the end of the day! 

Next step is the ridge beam.

Thursday, January 5^th., 2023…… Today is Cathye’s turn to see her doctor. Her previous guy has taken a new career path (in Nephrology – and will most likely be working with Lydia’s old team of drs. in Corvallis - how ironic!).  Also, this new guy for her came out of my office here in Lebanon and is now her new FNP at her clinic in Brownsville. I recognized his name!  He saw Lydia whenever our dr. was out of office.

When we got back, we saw that the beam install is now complete! Here are pics.

Next step should be the roof trusses and roofing. We will have two skylights going in to help with added light. Electricians are now contracted as well. I’m not sure when they will want to come and see where the guys are along in the job because they can’t complete the electrical at this time. But they can work under the house and bring the power out to the deck. We’ll see…  

Friday, January 6^th., 2023…… Guys did not show up today. ?  Cathye worked on her new desk. She has refurbished the whole thing while I have painted and re-installed the handles for her. Once it was dry, we got it carted in and set up. She’s got most of her stuff in already.

Not bad for $25.00!  We still need to get some hanging file folders so she can use that feature. I hung around the house while Cathye headed off to the 11:15am massage appointment. I will go to the second appointment later after I go return my monitor, which I can’t remove until 11:35am. I was on the phone with Treasa when it was time. She got to hear me wince whenever I pulled the sticky tape off of my chest!  Ok, Cathye called from Emily’s office. Emily says she doesn’t want to move muscle around since that will also force blood around inside.  So I have to pass on my appointment this time. No worries. I left and took the monitor back to the hospital check-in desk and all was good again. Except for the itching from the tape and from the shaving of that area!

Later, we headed off to Cathye’s appointment. We met and talked with her new FNP and discussed her health and meds and upcoming tests and treatment. She likes him! We came back and hung around the house, had dinner and watched tv until bedtime.     

Saturday, January 7^th., 2023……  I was up and out early this morning. I’m feeling 100% again! We walked the dogs and then I took off for a day trip up to Wilsonville (80 miles) to go to Cabela’s. I had a few things to check on plus I wanted to make sure my info for my rewards card was up to date. Turns out their customer service wasn’t much in the way of service! They didn’t want to (or know how to!) go into their system and change my old California home phone number over to my cell phone. “You have to do that yourself online!”  Thanks for nothing! I also needed to stop at Walmart and/or Staples and get ink cartridges for our two HP printers. Talk about big bucks when you buy for both machines at the same time!  I am seriously looking into those newer models that claim to have eco tanks or reservoirs that allow 5,000-7,000 pages before refill. Maybe an Epson this time? But for now, I just bit the bullet and got through it and paid for them and also got Cat the folders she needed for her desk and headed home. No workers today either. I spent time working on my blog and watching football and hanging around the house. Cathye has her room all set up now and it’s what she wants. We had leftovers for dinner and watched our taped programs before calling it a night.  Heck of a week!