Monday, November 17, 2025

Oregon Living 2025 – Blog #44 – Veterans Day and Surgery for Sis

 


Sunday, November 9th., 2025…… We slept in this morning. While Cat walked and fed the girls, I headed out to get us breakfast and coffee. Not a lot of tv watching for me today. Except for F1, all of my race series are over for the season. But I watched that one and then some football. Lazy Sunday. We left later for class. The group is thinning out a bit so we have plenty of angels to help at class. But we got to dance together to help out in the squares tonight. Later, we started talking to our members and I decided to try going to the afterparty again. Cathye called ahead and when we got there – guess what? They didn’t have our order! Again!  I came really close again but they took the order and came back out to the counter in a few minutes and said they had misplaced it and it was already in the oven. So I relaxed and got my beer and settled in to wait. No problems this time and we had a nice visit with our friends. We planned a party at our house for tomorrow for Mike’s birthday. Frank and Maryanne will come too for dinner and cards.

Monday, November 10th., 2025…… Today, after our walk, we left for the gym and Kevin’s for breakfast. My tooth had been bleeding since last Monday and I was starting to get worried. But I stopped my blood thinner for two days and now it’s fine and clotting like it is supposed to. We stopped at Walmart on the way home so Cathye could pick up stuff for an enchilada casserole for tonight. Cheryl will bring Spanish rice and a cake and ice cream for Mike. Later, I got to be sous chef for Cat when she made the casserole. I made the salad. We had a nice night of visiting and cards. Tonight we played swoosh.  

Tuesday, November 11th., 2025…… VETERANS DAY Thanks to all who served. Cathye got a call last night from Lona asking if she wanted to go over to Albany today for the Veterans Day parade. She left after we walked and fed the dogs and made coffee and had  breakfast. I worked some more on my procedures manual and I think I’ve got it all now. Next step is to make a few sets and then figure out who will be on my committee and get the first meeting going. Cathye got back and we relaxed and each watched some of our taped programs for the afternoon. She shared her pics of the day….

















There was no workshop this week. As mentioned before, Charlotte has called it until January. We are usually lucky to get enough for one square and she drives 40 miles to come every time. So, we’ll revaluate for next year…

Penny called and told us that her surgery for tomorrow will be around 7:30am and check-in is at 6:00am. So, I will be there to pick her up at 5:00am. She said they told her it should take 3-4 hours but we’ll see. I will stay and bring her back home and then Cat will meet us there and stay for a few days. She will be needing help dressing and such so that will work out good for her to have Cathye there.  Dinner and tv, Spa and then bed.    

Wednesday, November 12th., 2025…… I was up and out of the house at 5:45am and went and picked up my sister to take her to the Corvallis hospital for her shoulder surgery. She had shared a video of what she will be having. It’s a total ball and socket replacement. It’s to replace the glenohumeral joint in her right shoulder.  They implant the ball into the top of the humerus and then clean the socket in the scapula and install a new socket for the new ball. They said it’s probably a 3 hr. operation.  I had her there in plenty of time and she got checked in. I was told to leave for a bit and chose to go to Elmer’s for breakfast. That killed some time. After that I drove over to Albany to the courthouse. The tax office opened at 8:30am so I had to wait 20 mins. but I was able to get in and get our taxes paid. By the time I drove back to Corvallis, I only had to wait about 45 minutes before the surgeon called and gave me the update, He said everything went well and she was going into recovery now. It was another 30 minutes before the nurses called me to bring the car around and come in to wait for her. She had to ride in the back seat behind me to alleviate the seat belt cutting across her shoulder. We stopped at the pharmacy on the way home to pick up a couple of prescriptions. On the ride and in the pharmacy line, she was out of it!  Cathye met us at the house and got her settled in. She will be staying there until she can see that she functions by herself. But for now, she has full time care. I stayed there because cat had a drs. appointment. When she got back, I left to go home and rest and look after the dogs.  I talked with Cat later and then took Jama and went over and visited for a while. Penny is still pretty groggy and needed to just sleep. She had already ordered wedges and pads to make it more comfortable while in bed. The pain meds aren’t needed right now but I’m sure she will need them when the anesthesia totally wears off! I left them for the night and went back home. Tv and bed.      

Thursday, November 13th., 2025…… Today was a bad day for me! While I was dressing, I pulled my back again!  Not sure what is going on. Most likely a pinched nerve or a pulled muscle. The pain hits quickly which makes be think it’s a nerve. It always gets better but it takes time. I have a problem standing up straight. Sitting and lying down helps so that is what I have to do for now.

But as for Penny, she is doing better! Cat has been monitoring her meds and helps her go to the bathroom. But she is clearheaded now. She is also having some pain so the meds are needed.  She shares time with sitting up in the living room and sleeping in her bed. I come and go as needed and today I went over so Cat could go do labs and then go home and shower.     

Friday, November 14th., 2025…… Penny is doing way better today! She’s still in some pain but now is doing the exercises she was given. Some pain there but she is taking it in stride. I was home for most of the day but went by later to visit. I have also been thinking about building a doghouse shed for the well pump out in the field. If you read my blogs, I have already had the pipes repaired 4 times!  They burst due to freezing temps. But, this last time the plumber put in schedule 80 series pipe (which is super thick) so we should be ok. But, he suggested that I build a cover and install a light bulb that will help keep it above freezing. I was ready to design and start it but thought I would search and see what’s out there already. I couldn’t find too many that would work for my application – until I searched for plain old doghouses!  I though if I could find one already built, I could cover the dog opening, remove the floor and just drop it over the pump head. I found some new plastic and also some for sale on FB Marketplace but I stumbled on to some that were free!  That would be a good start!  I found one that hinged on the roof and was in Gresham (just east of Portland). I would have to get help and drive up and check it out. I responded to the ad but didn’t hear back…

Saturday, November 15th., 2025…… This morning I got a reply about that doghouse. It was still available. So, I called Mike to ask for help. No response so later, I went over and got Cat to go with me. Cherrelyn was coming over to spend the day with Penny so the timing worked out. We made the drive up to Gresham (about 90 miles) and found the doghouse was way in the back yard down a slope and did I mention it was huge! I said I would take it and we proceeded to take the roof off and used the dolly to try to get it around the trees and pool and up the hill. The structure of this thing was crazy! All 2x4s and plywood and thick masonite inside walls with insulation between. The roof itself was probably 250 lbs.! So, I quickly told them that I didn’t think it would fit where I needed it to go and we put everything back and left. On the way home I was thinking about just going back to square on and building one from scratch. Later, I found build plans for several styles and will do that when my back starts feeling better. I dropped Cat back at Penny’s and came home. Later, I got changed and went off to our dance. We were scheduled to work the money table tonight so I got there ahead of Cathye and got everything set up. We had a club from the Portland area come down to visit. They brought 10 people and we gave them our Club banner. Now we will schedule a visit to them to get it back. They told someone later that they had heard about Shaun and were interested in dancing to him to see if they wanted to book him. I also heard from one of them that they were very impressed!

We worked until around mid-dance and then Cat went back to Penny’s and I came home for the night. I took a Fireball out with me and sat in the spa for 30 minutes. I was really relaxed and slept well!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Oregon Living 2026 – Blog #5 – Booking our Cruise Excursions, Finally Mowing! and Our Club’s Birthday Dance

    Sunday, February 1 st. , 2026…… A pretty quiet day. The freezing weather is pretty much gone – at least for a while anyway. The rains...