Surgery Day

It's strange, but I'm actually relieved that I'm having my knee operated on today. It means that I can now start to recuperate and get on with my life instead of sitting here in limbo waiting for it to happen.

Granted, when the pain kicks in later this afternoon I may regret that statement, but for right now, bring it on!

I'll get back to you...

How I Know He Loves Me

He stands behind me waiting patiently as I gird my loins to go up the steps with my crutches, as I'm now incredibly afraid of falling.

He stands in front of me to encourage me and catch me as I go down those same steps.

He braces me with one arm and holds the shower sprayer with the other so that I may lean over the tub to wash my hair.

He brings me ice water and ice for my swollen knee, coffee in the morning, breakfast/lunch/dinner to my "throne" on the couch and anything else I request.

He feeds the kitten and cleans her litter box.

He wired cable into the guest bedroom so I could get a break from my mother's cigarettes and her addiction to TCM 1940's movies.

He loads me into the truck when he drives to where the rig is being stored to pick up more "stuff" so I can get some fresh air and watch the young foals in the pasture because he knows I love horses.

He surprises me with Hostess cupcakes, a chocolate addiction of mine.

And that's the short list...

Flowers for your Lazy Sunday Pictures

In our family we always took armsful of freshly cut peonies to the cemetery on Memorial Day as the peonies bloom in lush profusion this time of the year. This Sunday's pictures are of the flowers that bloom in May in Ohio.

And because Norman lost her tiny wild bunnies, I've posted a couple of pictures of the little fellow who came to visit us yesterday.

Have a safe weekend and keep the folks who are serving here and abroad as well as those who have fought in the past in your thoughts.

It's hard to believe that this lush growth of wisteria started from a few tendrils that escaped from the next door neighbor's yard.

The snowball bush in the front yard. My mom says it has a beautiful fragrance but the blossoms were gone by the time we arrived in Ohio.

The "miniature" lilac bush that has gotten out of hand at my mom''s house. Trimming is on Denny's "honey do" list. 

The bearded irises my sister brought over to cheer me up. They have a delicate fragrance that to me smells "purple". 

These are peonies from my mother's yard. Appalachians and those folks born near the turn of the century tend to call them "pineys". The peony bushes in the yard have been here 50 years and were originally planted as cuttings from my grandmother's house so they are much older than that and still producing well.

Every year there is a litter of bunnies born under the shed in my mother's yard. This little guy is not a shed bunny because he doesn't have a star on his forehead and all the "shed bunnies" always have stars. This one's for you, Norman. 

Another shot of the bunny. 

The Delayed Lazy Sunday pix

Denny had to run back over to the horse stables where we're storing our fifth wheel to dig out my smart card reader. We are going to have to make a gazillion trips to carry back all the stuff we're dragging over to my mom's house. Who knew that we managed to pack so much "stuff" into 400 square feet of living space?

But now I can upload pictures once again, so here's a couple of animal pictures to make up for missing last Sunday's Lazy Sunday Photos. They are much more interesting than my sad tale of woe over my asphalt tumble. Heh.

While we missed the spring flowers here in Ohio, we were in time for the adorable foals residing at Westin Stables in Beavercreek, OH. Who can resist a baby? We are grateful to Tonya for allowing us to store our rig on the grounds of her beautiful stables while I undergo surgery and recuperate. I get to watch the horses while Denny plays step-and-fetch it at the rig. Not a bad deal.

On another note, we've gone through our first Ohio tornado watch with nary a scratch. There will be many, many more before we leave here, believe me. The good news is that my mother's house has a basement. The bad news is that it's really hard to get downstairs quickly on crutches. Sigh. I'm crossing my fingers for a mild tornado season here in the Tornado Alley.

I can hide under the couch and jump out at your feet! 

Patches has found a new hidey-hole and sleeping nook. 

A palomino foal heading towards his mama at the stables where we're storing our fifth wheel while I undergo surgery and recuperate. 

Mother and foal at Tonya's stables. 

The foal has an itch. 

The Word Is...

We saw the orthopedic surgeon this morning (and indeed, he's lacking in people skills) who says that the lower portion of my kneecap is shattered so chances are he'll have to remove most of that and attach the patellar tendon to whatever's left. This won't be a pretty arthroscopic surgical scar, either. Nope, a big cut is in store, 4-6 more weeks in my "keep the leg straight from ankle to thigh" brace and 4-6 months of recuperation and therapy. This link explains it, but there are graphic pictures of the surgical repair if you are squeamish.

The surgeon's office will call later this afternoon to schedule the surgery for some time next week. All of which means many, many more nights of trying to sleep flat on my back and days of sitting on the couch with my leg stretched out all day. The good news is that there is no pain involved when I keep the leg still. The bad news is I can't frickin' do anything! Sigh. Okay, I'm done whining. But seriously, it's really, really hard to have to depend on other people to do everything that you normally do (cooking, cleaning, washing, even feeding the cat). The no-bending-no-weight on the leg rule prevents of a lot of normal movement and activities and I'm having trouble dealing with having to ask for everything instead of being able to hop up and get it or do it.

Obviously the painting and repairing isn't going to get done for a while and Denny will get to play golf with the guys instead of with his wife for a while. But once I get settled into some sort of routine I'll get back to work on the website and do some trips from our past on the blog.

Right now I'm just going to pout for a while.

Here we are again.

I really hadn't planned to be back in Ohio until August, but here we are. No visiting former co-workers, cousins, grandkids, kids, no exploring New Jersey and West Virginia for the first time, no summer of exploration and fun. Sigh.

Our youngest son came up with a recommendation for an orthopedic surgeon and I have my first appointment this Thursday. Darby now says (after I already made the appointment) that this particular doctor is standoffish and distant, which does not bode well as I have no respect for authority and refuse to be properly impressed by degrees. Note to self; keep your one moving foot out of your mouth.

So we'll settle in for a while and see what happens after I see the surgeon. After all, we still have the painting to do here and at Denny's father's house. I think I'll see if I can find my dad's old mechanic's creeper for my leg-at least I could do the baseboards that way!

And after Denny drags half our belongings from the rig I'll see about putting some pictures online here. But in the meantime, my mom just popped some good Arcanum grown popcorn and there's an old Bing Crosby movie on the TV so it's time to shut this down.

To our fellow travelers; Happy Trails.

This was NOT a Lazy Sunday

If you were expecting pictures today you're going to be disappointed. Denny just got the satellite dish up at 7 PM; we've had a long day.

Our intent was simple, travel up I-95 from Woodbine, GA to Summerton, SC. We stopped outside of Brunswick, GA to fill up one of the fuel tanks because diesel is cheaper in Georgia than in Florida. As I was leaving the Flying J convenience store I stepped off the curb onto the pavement and slipped on something, causing me to land hard on my left knee. As I sat there gathering my wits I realized my left knee looked funny; it was flat instead of rounded as I sat there with both legs drawn up to my chest as I prepared to get up. Uh-oh! I don't think I want to try to straighten that leg! A very nice lady (who was from Wooster, Ohio) ran inside to call 9-1-1 and came back to sit with me while Denny moved our rig away from the pumps. I don't think I've ever seen Denny move as fast as he did running to my side.

So the ambulance came, time was spent in ER with the final result being I managed to break my knee cap in half (one half went north and the other south) and rupture my tendon. The ER doctor said I should get my rear end to an orthopedic surgeon within the next 3 days or so, so four months of plans and reservations have just gone out the window. We will be returning to Ohio starting tomorrow after our mail arrives here at the campground and taking two days to head north. Since I have to use crutches and cannot bend my leg nor put any weight on that leg (my brace goes from ankle to thigh) until this gets fixed, it makes life in the rig difficult. We have three steps to get into the rig, two steps to get up to the bathroom and one more step to get into the bedroom. So we'll go bunk with my mother, have my surgery (the ER doctor said they would either wire my knee cap together or remove it altogher-eeewww!) to repair the tendon and nerves so we can get back to our lifestyle. After all, it's hard to blog about life on the road when you're stuck in a real house sitting still-ewwwwww.

Happy Trails, all. I'll probably be offline the next couple of days. Check back Wednesday or so. Maybe tomorrow before we get out of here I'll do a belated Lazy Sunday set of pix. Maybe.

Bird Flu Hits Florida Trailer Park

This was forwarded by a former co-worker (thanks, Ski!) and I thought the timing was appropriate since we're in a Florida "trailer park" at the moment. And at one time I really wanted a pair of these to put on our site when we set up camp. As a joke, people.

We'll be moving on tomorrow, staying one night in Georgia before heading into South Carolina to visit with another former co-worker. Melissa was my best trainee at the pd and she's now newly married and relocated to South Carolina so we have to check out her new house and see how she's settling into her new life. Changes....

A Little About St. Augustine

While Don Juan Ponce de Leon first sighted the Florida coast in 1513, the area wasn't settled until 1565. The kind of Spain had named Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles as governor of the territory and he and a group of settlers and 600 soldiers established the first town, naming it after St. Augustine.

Here you can visit the Nombre de Dios, the first mission established in 1565 for the Indians. You'll spot the huge 208 foot stainless steel cross on the grounds of the mission while driving down Hwy. 1 or crossing the Vilano bridge. You'll also find Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth if you're willing to pay the price of admission.

St. Augustine is a mixture of the historic and beautiful and the typical tourist tacky. Flagler College's flagship building is the former Ponce De Leon hotel built by Henry Flagler, cofounder of Standard Oil. Originally the interior was designed by Louis C. Tiffany as Flagler intended St. Augustine to be a huge tourist draw. The historic district with its narrow streets (don't drive your dually down there) offers a living museum and pastel buildings housing a variety of shops. The Florida School for the Deaf and Blind is a huge complex of 47 buildings on 72 acres and provides a free education to eligible Florida residents who are hearing or vision impaired.

The Spanish fort, Castillo de San Marcos, built in 1672 is part of the National Park system, so you can use your Golden Age passport or any of the park passes to enter. But many of the attractions in town will have fees, so perhaps taking a trolley train guided tour first would be a good idea to give you an overview of the area. Several of the trolley train companies will send out a free bus to your hotel or campground to take you to the trolley ticket area and tickets start at $20 or so for an adult fare, but the tickets are good for three days and you can get off and on the trolley to wander the city at your leisure. You'll certainly not be able to explore this city in just a day or so. And of course, you have miles of beaches to enjoy, too!

I first came to St. Augustine on my honeymoon with my first husband, and then Denny and I brought our boys down in 1984 while in Jacksonville for the Police Olympics. In 2001 Denny and I returned again (the dangerous dually drive through Old St. Augustine) to visit the World Golf Hall of Fame and now that we've discovered this campground I'm sure we'll come back again. You can run around like crazy doing the tourist-thing or you can sit and listen to the surf, but you'll enjoy the town whatever you choose to do.

Sunrise in St Augustine

What better way to start a day than to walk to the beach with a large mug of strong, hot coffee and your camera and watch the sun rise. There were only two of us on the beach at 6 AM, me on the observation deck and a woman walking the beach. The sunrise was not spectacular, but it was ours for the moment and we enjoyed it.

The beginning of a sunrise in St Augustine, FL 

Dawn is breaking at the Beachcomber RV Park in St Augustine, FL 

The sun is partially hidden behind a cloud on the horizon. 

Peeking above the horizon. 

It is surprising how quickly the sun rises. 

Still going 

Over halfway there. 

We need some pelicans in the picture. 

Is it just me or does the sun look like it is melting into the ocean here? 

Pulling itself from the sea. 

Morning has broken. 

Ta-da!