Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #39 – Recovery Continues, a New TV and a Busy Week!

 

Sunday, September 22^nd., 2024…… Both of us are feeling pretty good, but these last few days have been busy, to say the least!  So we decided to take it super easy today. Cathye skipped church and we won’t be going to either beginner’s class today and this evening. That meant we would be hanging around the house and watching tv. Cat did do laundry but I was pretty much resigned to my chair. I have bruises that are darkening a bit but no real issues. I think Cathye’s new meds are helping her. She doesn’t get tired as quickly as before but still feels it. She goes in tomorrow to see her gp. Later in the evening, we finished the Golden Bachelorette and then went on to watch the third Harry Potter movie. Cat has been enjoying them so far and is now hooked!      

Monday, September 23^rd., 2024…… The weather is ok these last days. We got up to 79° today. Not bad for the first day of Fall!  Because of my restrictions, no gym all this week. Cat and I headed off to Kevin’s for breakfast, then to her Dr.’s appointment this morning. He listened to her issues and made some prescription changes. But he also will be giving a referral to a pulmonologist as well as a sleep study program.  

Tuesday, September 24^th., 2024…… No square dance workshop today. There is a seminar on Fall Safety for Elders. It’s 4 hours and have interactive testing and such (foot clinics, hearing tests, etc.) so they will be using our square dance room for that today. This morning we headed over to Walmart for our vaccinations. They have finally starting scheduling up here and Walmart had availability for today. I had checked off 4 vaccines: rsv, flu, pneumonia, and covid. Come to find out we are both good on the rsv and the pneumonia, so it will be only a double ‘cocktail’ today! We got that done (one shot in each arm!) and then did some shopping while in the store. We have burnt out our old toaster and got a new one today. Later, we watched the third Harry Potter movie. If you’ve seen the series, you know they got darker and darker as they went. Well, the ‘dementors’ were too much for Cathye, who ‘Does Not Like Scary’!  So, we stopped it in midstream. We watched Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley in ‘For Richer or Poorer’ which I found on demand. That is one of my favorite movies and she enjoyed it too. Plus, it took her mind of ‘scary’!  

Wednesday, September 25^th., 2024…… Cathye has been sleeping well these last few days. I know that will help with her issues. For me, the crotch bruises are still there and still look dark purple but seem to be fading a bit. I am still on light activity with no lifting or exercising. No spa either until tomorrow. We walked and fed the dogs, then headed off to Salem for breakfast and an assignment. Last month Cathye was asked by Corey to serve custody papers to his ex-wife, who said she would accept them only from her (third party I guess!) with no issues. That done, she needed to go to the Salem courthouse and sign an affidavit that she did that task. We combined the morning with breakfast at Sybil’s in Salem. Later today, both of us had places to be. I am helping with our Club’s bylaws review, and Cat was going to a craft class. Both of these are at the Senior Center so we will cross paths briefly. After that, we came home and immediately fed the dogs and then left with Penny to Casa de Reyes in Sweet Home. It was Cathye’s late birthday party! We met up with Cherrelyn and had drinks and dinner.

They made Cat wear a sombrero and do a tequila shot!....

After we got home, we were able to watch tv for a bit then we hit the spa before bed. It was so nice to be able to get back in there again! So relaxing!

Thursday, September 26^th., 2024……  The weather here is nice these days. We will get an occasional shower cell maybe once a week that passes through and sometimes we get substantial rain. But other that, it has been really nice. Temps in the high 60s.  We had the dogs out and walked and ate breakfast This morning I worked on some more correspondence with my local badge maker. We have been back and forth via email with design and quotes. I think we have a plan. Here’s the black and white prototype….

They will be a little pricey because he will have to paint the green leaves on each one by hand. But since we don’t pay for our workshop classes, everyone seems to be ok with the one time cost.  Later, I headed off to my massage appointment. Since Cat was going through her surgery, Emily has postponed her massages for a few times. She gets to go back next month. Yaay! I got there and when she asked about my health, and I told her how I was doing after the ablation, she decided to go lightly and cut the time to ½ hour. We had leftovers for dinner and watched tv until spa and bed. The Masked Singer, Dancing With the Stars, Survivor, and Golden Bachelorette are back so we have plenty to watch. We have a new tv coming tomorrow and next week they are coming to upgrade our Directv system. Whatever is on our dvd recorders will be lost when we swap them out, so we are trying to watch everything each of us has taped.   

Friday, September 27^th., 2024……  The tv will be delivered today!  Yaay! We had shopped in Costco and found what we wanted but ordered it from Costco Online with free delivery. That thing is heavy and cumbersome so they can deliver it! Meanwhile, I had some work to do. I moved my tv out of my office and put it in the shop, replacing the smaller one out there. The one in the living room went into my room, so now we have the spot ready in there for the new one. It is somewhat bigger so I had to run longer hdmi cables for both the tv and the dvd player. It was harder than I thought, since the previous owner installed ports in the cabinets and walls for cable routing. It was pretty much impossible to snake the lines, so I had to drill some new holes. But it’s ready!  For now, we will use the sound system on the tv until we decide if that will work or if we want to put in a soundbar.  Later in the afternoon, they delivered the tv. It was super easy to unpeel the carton and get the stand installed on the tv. Then it was just a matter of hoisting it up on the entertainment center top. Once that was done, we were good to go! Start-up menus completed; we were in business! 

Next week the guy will exchange the DirecTv boxes and we will be good to go! Still watching our shows to get caught up.

Saturday, September 28^th., 2024…… A busy day. We had 6 things on our list today! First up was patio furniture moving. I moved some of the stuff from the back deck to the front porch, replacing it with the powder-coated chairs we had done a few months ago. Cat wanted to get them under the deck roof, out of the upcoming weather. 

Next up was housecleaning. We got that done and then headed off to the Tomato Festival at the Senior Center in town. They do this every year and you can sample over 100 varieties of local-grown tomatoes. 

It was crowded and I lost patience in the tasting line, but we both made it through. They also had booths/tables with local vendors, but we didn’t buy anything. We did take some tacos and tamales home for lunch though! Next up was mowing. That took 1 ½ hours and was more work than we wanted. Problem was two-fold. I set the mower blades down a little lower for today. As we get to the end of the season, we try to cut the grass way back to avoid a jungle out there during the rainy season. That would have been ok, except we didn’t wait long enough this afternoon for the grass to dry out! That made for some soggy cuttings that got caught up in our baggers and mowers.  That made for extra work but we got it all done! After cleanup, I started in pulling down the fall decoration bins from the garage. I put them on the back deck and Cat will take her time setting them up next week. We had time to rest and have dinner before we showered and dressed to go out to Corvallis to dance with the Corvallis Squares. They had moved to a new location and we found that and met up with our friends. A light turnout for their banana split dance but we had fun!  Cathye hasn’t been dancing much these past few months, but she did excellent tonight and had more energy! Back home later and bed. Like I said, a busy day!    

Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #38 – Happy Birthday to Cathye and a Successful Surgery For Me!

 

First off, here is a pic from our dinner last night at Gametime that I forgot to include in the last post....

Sunday, September 15^th., 2024…… A pretty quiet Sunday. I was feeling pretty good from the jump yesterday. Randy said he was good too. Fun day. The kids and I went off to Appletree for breakfast before they headed back home. I think he said they would be stopping one day to ride Alsea trail and then go down the coast. Like I said, pretty quiet day. Cathye went off to church and I watched races. 

Monday, September 16^th., 2024…… The weather has been turning a bit these last few days. The mornings have been in the 50s and we are getting some showers. That helped the grapes though! They are delicious! We have been cutting some and taking them to give to friends at class. Sweet corn is also in here so we have been getting ears from local sellers. Hermiston Watermelons are about done. They are from Hermiston Oregon, out in the Columbia River basin. They are still coming down with them for local sale but now use a smaller truck. They are the best and are very tasty!  Cathye’s cherry tomatoes are also going nuts! We go out and pick some fresh every day!      

Tuesday, September 17^th., 2024…… Cathye was feeling good so we headed off to our workshop this afternoon. We have been talking about giving the group a name and we were all asked to come up with our choices. I brought several to the group and they chose one of mine. Our little group is now called Late Bloomers! We all liked the name since our Club theme is strawberries. I found some clipart that shows strawberries on the vine in bloom that we liked. We also discussed getting badges and I was asked to come up with a logo and talk to the badge maker up in Beaverton. Back home later, we had dinner and settled in to watch tv. Cathye has expressed interest in seeing the Harry Potter series. We watched the first one and she really enjoyed it. I have all of them on dvd so we can watch more later.  

Wednesday, September 18^th., 2024…… Since both of us have lab orders from our doctors, today we headed off together to the hospital to get that done. After that, we went to Kristi’s for breakfast.  Later this afternoon, I headed off to Corvallis to my appointment. When I was doing a follow up with my gp, she asked how things were. I mentioned that I was still trying to get some answers about my lack of smell. So, she gave me a referral to an ENT office and that was today. The dr. checked everything and didn’t see anything alarming but also nothing that would cause this to happen – except some smaller than normal nasal passages and just old age. He wants to put me on prednisone for 5 days and also wants me to do an MRI just to eliminate tumors and such. Very rare. Problem is, I don’t want to go into a tube! Even with a sedative, I don’t think I can do it. Waiting to hear from scheduling to discuss further. Once I got home, we were in for the day. But later, we did get some exciting news. Corey and Vikki facetimed Grandma to let her know they were pregnant! Don’t they know what causes that? Anyway, happy for them since they have been trying for a long time.   

Thursday, September 19^th., 2024……  Haircuts today at 10:00am, so we headed off to breakfast at Kristi’s beforehand and made it to Dianne’s place with a few minutes to spare. After that, Cathye would be going off with her friends to Silverton to celebrate Cathye’s, Lona’s and Judy’s September birthdays! But, as it turned out, a couple of them weren’t feeling well, so it got postponed. We would find out a few days later that Lona has covid so that turned out to be a good choice! Later, we planned to head over to Albany to meet the 7:50pm train from Portland & pick up Josh and Tait who were coming in to celebrate Grandma’s birthday with her. Turns out their train was super late and wouldn’t get in until midnight! Since I had to do that special pre-surgery shower before bed, I stayed back and she went alone.  The plan is for them to work from home tomorrow while Cathye stays with me during surgery. I expect to be released early afternoon, and depending on how I am feeling, I will go to dinner with them.     

Friday, September 20^th., 2024……  HAPPY BIRTHDAY CATHYE!  It was a busy day for both of us! It was my scheduled ablation surgery day. When they called to schedule, this was the only day that I could get in. So she was ok with that. We will make it work! After I got up and did the second shower and got dressed, we left for the 6:30am check-in at the Corvallis hospital. Turns out this would be a long day. I got in the prep room and was in the operating room around 8:30am. I won’t go into the details but everything went well. Just went on longer than they had told Cat. So, she was more than worried! But, after I was out and in recovery, Penny stayed with me because I needed to rest and make sure there was no bleeding and I could walk ok before they would release me. Meanwhile, Cat went back home where the kids were. Corey and Vikki and family came down to celebrate with her and Josh and Tate. Given the numbers and the time of day, they decided to forgo going out and instead they ordered pizza. Cathye also wanted to work on her special project with the grandkids. She had seen a video on Facebook about a person putting fabric paint on her arms and then hugging her grandchild. “Something to remember me by,” she said. “Hugs from Grandma! She bought 7-8 sweatshirts and Corey, Josh and Tait got theirs today! It was really sweet to watch the video. Here are a few pics of that and the day for both of us…

Saturday, September 21^st., 2024…… I am feeling pretty good this morning. I still have bandages on the two areas on my groin area where they inserted the lines. They said they were able to go in via the venus veins and not the large arteries in the groin. So, maybe the area will be less sore. I am bruised in that area and will remove the bandages later today after we get back from seeing The Cascade Chorus performance this afternoon. I also plan on going to our Club dance tonight. I know I am not allowed to dance, so we will just visit for a bit then head back home. 

Ok, it’s later now. We went to the chorus performance. It was really fun. The group up here is small but they put on a pretty good show and the quartets were good too. I got used to going to see barbershop in California where Ken is in his chorus (Orange Empire Chorus). Turns out that one of the guys up here said he knows Ken. He said when he was down visiting in SoCal, he was lucky enough to guest sing with the Masters of Harmony, one of the top choruses in the world. He also knows some of the Orange Empire guys and said he thinks he remembers Ken.  I had called a number on their website and I think I spoke with a gentleman named Bob Martindale. Might be him. Anyway, Cathye enjoyed the show. They had a feature guest quartet (Timeless) who were really good and had an exception lead. They said they were singing at District coming up next month. Best of luck.

Here are pics from that part of our day…

This last one is when they asked all past members and other singers to come on stage for the final song

Later, we headed over to the Club dance. The Lebanon Square Circlers dances from September to June, and this was the first dance of our season. We didn’t stay too long but it was fun to visit even though we didn’t dance!  Home and tv later. We watched the first half of the Golden Bachelorette. I was happy to see that they chose Joan from the Golden Bachelor. She was our favorite last season. Cathye enjoyed seeing all of the senior gentleman vying for her affection! It will be a fun season!  We cut it short because we were both pretty tired from the day.

 

  

Oregon Living 2024 – Blog #37 – A Surprise Birthday Party and Jumping Out of a Perfectly Good Airplane!

 

Wednesday, September 11^th., 2024…… A 75^th milestone Birthday for me! I started the day like any other day. The only thing happening tonight was dinner at The Point. Just Penny and Cherrelyn and us. I was going to take the motorhome in to Sweet Home to get new tires for the front today, but the weather wasn’t cooperating. It was sprinkling when I walked the girls so I texted the guy and asked if I can come in tomorrow. It was a good thing because it came down on and off for most of the day. We both worked on the weeding and got that done. We both also worked on some small projects around the house. Then, later, after Penny came over, we changed and headed off to dinner and enjoyed a great meal. I am still working on keeping my weight down, both for my procedure next week and also to make the weight limit for skydiving this weekend. But I still enjoyed the one beer! After we ate, we headed back home. What, to my surprise could all of the cars in the driveway mean! Happy birthday to me! Cathye had been working on this in secret, for some time. It was nice to see everyone there and we all celebrated with cake and ice cream and I got to open many funny bd cards!

Thanks Sweetie, for doing this for my big 75!  Love you to infinity and beyond!  After everyone left, we cleaned up a bit and then watched tv until hitting the spa before bed. A really fun day!  

Thursday, September 12^th., 2024……  Ok, today was busy. Cathye would get up later and walk and feed the dogs. But I was up early. I got the motorhome out and made a careful drive on the now well-worn-out front tires. But I made it and they went to work right away. Here is the wear on the front left….

After they had the tires off, one guy said, “I think I found your problem!”

No, that tie rod arm should NOT bend like that! He asked if I ran over something. Nope. Plus, the way it was bent meant I would have had to back over something. I thought about it for a while, then it hit me!  Back in 2018, when I was having the rv garage built, I had Tim excavate an area for a gravel driveway. Here are before and after file pics of that area…

When he was finished and had the gravel in and leveled, he said I should back in and out on it with the motorhome to help pack it done. Well, that didn’t work so well, and I buried the back wheels in to the frame! So, he had me get in and he hooked up a chain to the frame under the front, and pulled me out with his tractor. Turns out he must have attached the chain around the tie rod and when he pulled, he bent it like you see in the pics. That started the chain of problems with the front tires wearing out so fast.  I was grinding the edges off the tires and wearing them out quickly! So, after the tires were done, I headed over to Sanders Truck Alignment, about 15 miles away. They confirmed that the part was supposed to be straight! They had them in stock and before the day was over, I got a call that they had made the repairs and did a front end alignment and I was good to go. Not a cheap day but we now have peace of mind that we are not going to have any more tire issues. That’s good because we go to the coast next month for an outing with our rv club.     

Later in the afternoon, we headed off to the local Thursday farmer’s market on Main St. in town. We were there for a square dance exhibition to promote our upcoming class. We danced for about an hour and then headed off with a few friends to see our buddy, Rick, at his Kento Grill and have dinner. Back home later and tv and spa and bed.

Friday, September 13^th., 2024……  We were out to breakfast this morning and then on to pick up the motorhome. Here is the new part...

Randy is due in sometime today. He has Chuck, one of his riding buddies, with him this time. They are making their way north, stopping by Randy’s favorite bike trails to show to Chuck, who has never been out with him on a road trip before. Cathye had made chicken pot pie but they were late so they missed out and had to heat it up later. We visited for a while then called it a night. Tomorrow we skydive!  

Saturday, September 14^th., 2024…… Whoopie, today’s the day! I have not been stressed or worried about doing this and slept great last night!  I think I made up my mind years and years ago that I wanted to do it someday. Cathye had organized it and was originally planning to go too, but her medical issues got in the way for now. So, she gave her ride to Randy, who, had never thought too much about it, but is pretty much adventurous and joined me. Penny came over and the five of us headed down to Creswell, just south of Eugene to this tiny little airport, where Eugene Skydiving was located. We signed in and paid. We opted for the extra $ video for both of us. It only took a few minutes to go through the safety video and sign our waivers. Our tandem partner today was Ryan, who took us both out to get a quick tour of the plane and told us what we needed to do while getting out on the platform for the jump. Since I was going first (my choice), I went in and got harnessed up.  Ryan was a great instructor and made me feel at ease.  They got me in the plane and situated. I had to sit on the floor with my legs straight out flat (more on that in a minute). Ryan sat back to back with me for the ride up to 10,500 feet that took about 20 minutes. Then it was time to go! They opened up the side door and he said, “Put your foot on that plate above the landing gear wheel and we will go. It didn’t take anything for me to make that step out. But with all of the wind, I did have a little trouble keeping my feet on that little piece of metal. But once I got there, I was ready! Out we went! We had roughly 20-30 seconds of free fall (amazing) before he snatched my balls away when he popped the chute! It was a shock and a little uncomfortable on the boys (!) for the ride down! But it was still amazing! He let me have control of the chute and I did some turns. And yes, when you pull one side all the way to your chest, you do go into a spiral where your body is parallel to the ground for a short time!  That was cool! Then, we made our way to the landing zone. It was right across from the hanger, so the others could get some photos. As instructed, I had to hold my legs off the ground so Ryan could touch down first, then we both sat down to close the chute. One little bump on the butt and I was good!  We rode back on the golf cart and then it was Randy’s turn. Same pilot and jumper. Randy’s description was pretty much the same as mine. Awesome! Ryan came in a little hotter with him and Randy touched one of his feet before Ryan, so it was a little rougher landing. But he was fine. We all headed to the hanger and got our certificates and got to sign the 2024 jumper’s sign! I wrote, “I kicked this pig!”  The whole experience was magical, and I would definitely do it again! 

Here are some pics that Cathye and Penny took of both of us on our adventure. Also some we captured from the video file. You may have to zoom in on those when we were way up there!

 

 

Cathye was a little bummed but we plan on coming back for her birthday next year!  We went in and bought souvenir shirts and socks (thanks Randy) and then headed home.

I was good to go, but later, after the ride home, I noticed that my right knee was a little tight. I think I tweaked it either when I was sitting on the floor of the plane with my legs straight out (really uncomfortable for me with my osteoporosis!), or when we touched down on our butts. I took some Tylenol later and that would help. Randy had similar symptoms on the same knee that he touched down on with his foot. But, other than that, we were good to go. When we got back home we relaxed for a bit, before going off to Gametime for dinner and drinks with the boys and Cherrelyn and Penny, who joined us there. We all came back to the house.  If the guys were going out to ride this afternoon, we were planning on going to the visitation dance in Sweet Home with our Club. But they weren’t so we decided to spend time with family instead, and we all hung out by the firepit on the deck for a while. What a fun day! Thanks to my treasure of a wife for organizing this special treat! What a sweetheart!  “I promise we’ll go back so you can do it too!”