IN Carmel

 Another pleasant temperature day although not quit like Monday.  But there is no reason to complain.  I slept a little longer.  Not the usual 5 something but it was an almost 7 something.  After breakfast I decided it was time to knit again moving closer to another scarf finishing.   More burps were marked which led to sewing, trimming, turning, ironing and then finishing and folding.  That happened at different times during the morning and afternoon making sure that the back muscles were honored.  They showed better fortitude but still needed to be recognized when tired. I pulled more fabric out and did some prep work adding some cute dogs to the growing burp piles that also included this time cute penguins.  We took a break for a Doug/Lela trip to Aldi's.  Doug makes that experience so much easier.  He pushes the cart.  I load it and then we both unload it at the register with Doug always making some funny quip to the c...

 Labor Day.  I didn't do a whole lot of that.  When growing up I can remember some big projects that happened on Labor Day.  A day with a lot of LABOR.  Not so today.   I did take a turn at the computer going through the steps Eric taught me when it comes to Zoom finding.  I remembered all of it.  Well, for now but we'll see how time takes care of memory. The garden cart did follow me around but the load collected wasn't so large.  Just a few snips here and there.  There was quite a bit of watering happening.  And there should be more perhaps tomorrow.  The hens and chicks have taken quite a beating.  They need a bit of resuscitation. I hope it works.   There was knitting and I did produce 10 more burps.  More are marked for sewing  It's always a surprise to me the attack on back muscles after a long time away from the sewing machine. It takes a lot of time to be able to build sewing machine muscle...

 Sing me a simple song.  No...give me a simple day. That was today.  I'm enjoying that.   It was church day and we left home at 10 getting there a bit early.  I visited with a couple of friends in the Gathering Room.  Then on to the sanctuary at 11 which had a labor day attendance although there were more folks attending than I thought their might be.  There was a baptism and communion and once again Jill preached a super thinking sermon.  She's good at that.   We headed home and lunch happened and then it was time to knit until the 2 o'clock hour when the USA FiFa B B  team played Italy.  Hanging on by a thread or less is how I would describe the game.  But at the last minute or a bit more USA pulled off a win.  Woo.  It was a breath holder most of the time with a ton of missed shots and other things that really looked sad for our team.  But a win is a win in the book. It's win number 2.  Number 3...

 What a wonderfully cool morning to wake up to.  The garden got a walk though showing me the toll it took yesterday because of the heat.  Woo.  It needed some TLC where it made a difference.  Some things were just burnt up.  Their removal time is to be determined. So the garden cart followed me again with an over the top load to the B Blues.  I picked quiet a few tomatoes along with a couple of great peppers. I could have done more but thought one cart load was enough for the morning.  The self seeding Cleome really are taking over.  It seems that each flower has it's season.  Some produce early and some choose the late summer to show their blossoms. The Dahlias were picked again.  A new one is blooming.   Yesterday I was an inside hermit missing what I should not have missed.  This morning I found two dead Monarchs in the cage.  They should have been released yesterday for sure.  There were two more chrysal...

 Today started like none other.  Yes, there was breakfast and all the start the day things.   Then came a text from my Cleveland WNBA lady friend who is now my FIFA Basketball friend.  The first USA game being played in Berlin Germany was at 8 am this morning against China.  And we watched it together even though we were miles away from each other.  And USA was the winner by a whole bunch.  Good shooting.  Super defense against a 7 ft. 2 player and another player way over 6 ft.  Our tallest player's Visa was lost in the mail.  Now what do we think of that.  She is stuck here in the states.  Anyway, it was a great game even though the score was a bit lop sided.  The next game is Sunday afternoon with the third one on Monday afternoon.  So the beat goes on.   The rest of the day was pretty quiet with small meals I call nibbles that carried me thought.  Breakfasts are small but right now, not small en...

 What does one do when the weather is very hot? Not much.  So it's been a week of not much with at least one more day to go.  Then things should be different.  We'll see how that goes.  Or we could say it's to be determined.   So what happened today.  I set you up for not much leaving the number low.  The morning did see another PT session with Diana.  She is one tough little lady with hands that are so strong. And she used them mightily finding so many sore spots along the incision line that goes from my ear to the center of my neck. I think she worked on about a third of that line. I wanted to say ouch so many times but she already knew what she was doing wasn't pleasant at all through what her fingers were telling her.  But somethings are unpleasant before they become pleasant.  This is one of them. Because of a busy schedule for her, unless there is a cancelation next Tuesday, I won't see her till Thursday.  I wish tha...

 Another hot day in Indiana.  There have been a few this week but by the end of the week the heat will move on.  Well, that's the hope.   When looking at the Dahlias, even though they got a good drink a few days ago it would seem that they could enjoy another one.  So the sprinkler was set and that happened.  That was about the extent of the morning work. It was shower time and I was ready for another Doctor visit.   That happened and since I was the last patient for the day there was NO rush in the pace of the visit.  It was long and fun. How fortunate for me.  We had a good visit with a few suggestions to keep me going. There is a bit more homework but not much.  After the visit I decided to visit Aldi's for sherbet.  That meant I would pass the Nora Goodwill.  And you guessed it...I stopped.  That store has been improved so much with simple reorganization.  The small space holds a whole lot more without f...

 This morning started a little slow.  I was going to write pokey.  Two good descriptive words. I finished last night off with another good drink for the five Dahlias I missed yesterday. They are planted in other places then the majority of Dahlias who have earned their exclusive Dahlia bed.   This morning, sitting seemed to be what the body was telling me to do. So the knitting came out and I did quite a bit of needles clicking toward another scarf.   Some time ago I decided to change my e-mail address.  I was tired of the hundreds of items showing up which were plain old trash.  That change created a little mess which I worked toward fixing later in the morning.  One was getting the new e-mail address attached to the I U Portal. Seems the doctors need to talk to me. One sent me a letter because I had not opened the portal. Another to do was calling church to once again receive the church letter through the new e-mail.  Little by li...

 The garden walk was first on the list and it didn't take very long for the message to come that this morning would be a work morning.  The garden was needy for a lot of reasons.   I set up the sprinkler to help the Dahlias though this dry season.  No water, no flowers.  I wanted flowers so the water was delivered in a quantity that will give me flowers.  The garden cart followed me out of the garage to the north side of the back garden where the Iris live. It was time for their summer hair cut.  Stella came along side giving me a seat to work from.  She is always a huge help with Iris trimming.  Sitting when cutting makes the job doable. It takes so long to shape two large garden plots of Iris up for the rest of the late summer days.  Along with trimming comes the discovery of everything that is exposed to view when their trim happens.  So the whole morning's work delivered three garden carts filled to overflowing contributed ...

 Today was a very pokey day.  I wasn't much in a hurry and tonight's post will back that up.  Some days are like that even in Carmel.   This morning we picked up Noah for church.  It was Andrews day to move back into the dorm at Goshen so their car was packed to the max.  Noah had a bell rehersal after church so it was important that he made that practice.  He had another ride home allowing us to leave church at a more decent time   Church was something different this morning when it came to the music.  We had an excellent Dixie Land Jazz Band that supported the worship in so many ways.  I thought we were right in the heart  of New Orleans.  We heard Jesus Calls Us/ Shall We Gather at the River/Down by the Riverside/ Just a Closer Walk/ Love Lifted Me.  And for the Postlude...When the Saints Go Marching in.  The place was rockin! So the rest of the day was a plain ordinary Sunday.  Nothing out of the or...

 There was a slow start to Saturday.  There was breakfast, TV, knitting for a while after doing my homework. I thought it was time for a walk.  It was a short walk around the block but it took me for ever.  Not because I was a slow walker but because I stopped and talked for about an hour with a neighbor.  She was painting her house.  I finally got to our driveway and three ladies were out walking.  One from the neighborhood with two of her friends.  There were some questions and I had some answers.  I asked if they wanted to do a garden walk and they said yes.  So there went about another 30 minutes of visiting.  What fun.  So friendships were renewed and some new ones made.  It was a good morning.  Lunch happened.  The afternoon was filled again with knitting with another scarf finished and watching the Colts play the Lions along with a little WNBA.  Not a lost afternoon in my world.   For what e...

The last day of the work week.  Well, that's for some but not for all.  But it's Friday. The first order of the day was the paper work.  That means homework in this case.  I got-er-done.  There was a little TV and then I decided to do a walk around the block.  It went well yesterday and I thought to repeat it again.   Neighbor Vicky and her dog caught up with me and we completed the walk stopping to talk to another gardener neighbor as we passed by.  She was enlarging her front garden.  I spent the morning doing a little more knitting.  Not to much but enough for the morning. A bit more happened in the afternoon. There was lunch and then a Kroger stop for 4 gal of distilled water.  Enough for a while to keep my C Pap machine happy.  I stopped at the Y to see what more walking would do there for a body that might benefit with a bit more exercise. It's been a while since I've done the Y.  That also was pretty positive e...

 One more Thursday under my belt.  That is if I'm waring a belt.  I'm not.  But there still was another Thursday for a lot of things happening.   Yesterday Dr. Jalli and I negotiated pills.  She suggested one Hydrocone and I suggested two.  I won.  But this morning I wanted to see if one would really work.  Well, it didn't.  So for this morning I added the second pill.  I'll try again tomorrow.  I took it easy getting the paper in and checking on the Dahlias.  There are a whole lot of buds but the blooms will be here soon.  The one more cat became a chrysalis so the number is four with the fifth on in a j shape.   Of course the body wanted to sleep so I got my favorite camping chair out which always was a great sleeping chair and true to form...I fell asleep which happened in a nice warm sunshine.  That can be dangerous but true to form I wasn't burned in the experience.   We made a great...

 There is not to much to write about tonight but I do have some news.  So it was up early and because I was off Hydrocodone for two day I drove myself around 8 o'clock to the doctors.  And there is more news now.  The shoulder Xray showed there is tendonitis.  So the pain is not exactly in my head.  It's in my shoulder.  Well, at least that's where the Xray picture was taken.  It can hurt other places but I suspect that is referred pain.  So there you have it now.  What I think is bad news is that Tendonitis can take a long time to heal.  The doctor added...don't expect a quick fix. I'm back on Hydro cone.  No driving until the pain disappears when no pain medicine is needed.  Sleeping last night was impossible so the chair was the place to be once again.  I'm going to try a pill before sleeping with the hope it lasts until the next evening.  I'll be back with another doctor visit next Wed.  When I asked for...

 Today was a slower day but I do have something to show for it.  Well, at least for the morning.  The big do was to fix plastic bags for carry out meals at Bread and Bowl.  Opening plastic bags ahead of the work time at church just makes assembling the take home meal a little easier.  So with Jared suggestion to make this job even easier I prepare enough bags for the two Saturday's in the month of September when North folks work. So that took up some of the morning.  I did find that the repetitive motions that came with the job was noticed in my arm. I think the problem really is muscles in my back that send tension to my arm. I'm missing one muscle that was moved to my head to fill the hole that cancer made. But I survived the morning.  There will be a month of healing before that jobs comes back again.  I should be in great shape by then. Typing still remains one of those repetitive exercises.  I did a little kitchen cleaning and the aftern...

 Today was what I would call a better day.  The shoulder still hurts but it's a lot more bare able.  And working in the garden didn't make it worse.  In fact it made it better.  The doctor told me that moving would be helpful. Now I would say that's crazy but it did work.  I filled the garden cart this morning and did it again this afternoon.  It was a good mental health day even having fewer heavy pills. In fact...just one.  The verbena were a tangled mess covering up a whole lot of things again.  They got a major clipping sure to be back again one of these days. The bloomers just keep on blooming which the butterflies love.  The caterpillars are changing into their J shape and soon will be Monarch we recognize as Monarch.  There are 5 cats in the cage. Three are moving right along and the other two are not far behind.  And the Fever are moving aright along also.  I missed the big win last night sleeping right through til...

 Today, I took the lazy way out. We didn't go to Michigan to see the kids and we didn't go to church either.  Since I told my friends we wouldn't be at church today I just didn't want to talk about why being there happened.  So it was church on line which was good but not the same as being there for sure.  I did do a Dahlia snipping and now there are all new flowers throughout the house.  I accomplished something. I'm running low on Hydro pills but discovered a few from another time.  I'm trying to back off but the big reason for pills is still hanging around.  What a bummer.  So the afternoon after just taking one for the morning demanded another go for the afternoon which lead to a lot of sleep.  How boring.  At some point  soon I'll be happy to be awake to experience the world again.  The Fever lost last night's game but tonight there is another chance for a win.  These girls have gumption.  Nancy and I have been t...

 Muscle cramping continues.  So this will be short. I never know exactly when it will happen.  It comes when it wants to usually after a long rest. I's 10 pm.  I'll write more tomorrow.  

 Another good night of sleep with a little help from the pill bottle.  One of these days the hope is to pitch the pills where they need to go.  Not yet but one of these days.  There was breakfast and then the monthly trip to I U North to see all my friends who take care of their cancer friends..  They certainly take good care of me.  And I am grateful.  The stay was a bit longer than I had planned.  Every three months there is an additional calcium shot.  And this was the month.   While at the hospital I shared my concern about what seemed something missing from the PT order. The nurses got right on it and yes...there was a glitch that eventually got worked out by the afternoon with a new order for PT, this time from Dr. Jalli. The PT sessions were set up by the afternoon hour. There will be 5 Thursdays with Michael again.  He's a best buddy for sure. It's pretty sad when one knows their PT guy as well as I do. Michael doe...

 Another day of pain when the Hydro wears off way to soon.  So typing is difficult and will be pretty short. Some time ago we made plans to visit with the Michigan Russell's this coming weekend.  That will not happen.  Rescheduling will not happen until I know when this body is going to cooperate.  So it goes.  The days are slow but I must admit the med. brings on good sleep no matter where I am.  I'll be back with you tomorrow.