Saturday, December 30, 2017

Christmas went well

First, one of my oldest friends down in southern Illinois got pneumonia and is in the hospital on a ventilator.  That really hit home since I am still coughing.  I didn't believe in flu shots or pneumonia shots, but I have just done a complete turnaround.  Judy may not make it and I am praying for her.

My brother was sober about 42 days by Christmas Day and Christmas was very very nice and fun.  St. Louis was freezing cold and had a bit of snow, but we survived it.

I brought along something called Funny Faces -- cardboard masks that covered from the nose up.  So instead of the boring old group photos that we usually take, these are a much better substitute.

My sister and Tricia

Bob and Liz (Bob is bald for real so this probably wasn't the best mask for him!)

Tricia

My sister and me



Sunday, December 17, 2017

Update

Not sure what is going on with my brother.  He went home and I haven't heard a thing from him or his wife.  I guess no news is good news.  So, for me, it's been a quiet few weeks.  I hope it's the same in his household.

When I took Mia to Camp BowWow last week, I took a tour of the inner workings of the place.  I've been meaning to do it but always had to rush.  It is really really nice.  The "cabin" (kennel) for each dog is huge with a bed and plenty of room for blankets and toys and whatever else will make her comfortable.  They told me they have 58 cabins of several different sizes depending on the size of the dog.  I was so pleased to see where she stays when I leave her for a long stay, like I'm going to do for Christmas.  So she will have lots of activity during the day and a nice big "cabin" for the nights.  And I am arranging training for her every other day while I'm gong so she has that one-on-one contact, too.

And on the last day of her stay I requested a "spa" bath.  They give her a bath and a massage.

And I always bring along her food, her dish, and her treats and they have a special location where they are able to keep it all and know it belongs to her.  They call it the "lockers" but it is actually rows of big plastic containers with locking lids.  So I feel even better about Camp BowWow.  And she still loves going there.  When I pull into the street where the Camp is (which is a very nondescript little commercial area where you would never ever think there would be a doggie day care), she starts going crazy.  When I bring her in and she sees the girls who work there, it is clear that she really likes them.  She gets so excited.

By the way, I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but if you go to Starbucks and buy something, you can get a free puppaccino for your dog, which is basically a cup filled with whipped cream.  So whenever I pull into a Starbucks parking lot or drive-through, she also goes nuts because she knows she is about to get her puppaccino.

Well, that's all my news.

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Rehab Update

Well, we have jumped through hoops to get my brother's health insurance extended through COBRA but somehow the rehab center hasn't been paid and they are not willing to work with us so the Rehab Center kicked him out this evening.  He is now at Tricia's house in St. Louis -- thank goodness he was in a city where there was some family.

You know, you see ads on TV constantly saying "if you need help with an addiction, call us now."  So you try to get that help and it appears all they want is the money.  Very very disappointing.

I think his wife is going to drive up and get him on Saturday and take him home where he can start trying to live his life again.  We still don't know what Christmas will be like so we aren't making any plans.  We'll just play it day by day.

I've been in a "missing Marshall" mood, very down.

Monday, November 27, 2017

Holidays

Thanksgiving went well at the rehab center.  And it also went well here in Colorado.

On Black Friday I went to the Subaru dealer and ended up buying a 2018 Subaru CrossTrek (in Sunshine Orange) -- my mid-to-late-life-crisis car.  It is on order and if I'm lucky it will be here by Dec. 20th, in time to drive to St. Louis.  I can't remember the last time I had a jazzy car, so this is exciting.  Here's what it will look like:



Tuesday, November 21, 2017

I think Detox is over

Well, when the 96 hours was over, they said he needed more time, so I think he's still in detox and may get released to a regular room tomorrow.  He seems to be doing really well.  Tricia has been to see him and my sister has been there, too.  They are planning to have Thanksgiving dinner with him in the Center's cafeteria -- if it is allowed.  I'm not going -- I'll stay here in Colorado with my babies.

He's lost a ton of weight (maybe about 35 pounds) and needed some new clothes.  He says he is determined to make this work.  And his wife has been very supportive, which has meant a lot to him.

I had an appointment today with my cardiologist to "interrogate" the pacemaker and all is good in that department.  Still 5-1/2 years left on the battery.

When I had that bout of walking pneumonia I was coughing constantly and wondered if all that chest "movement" would affect the wires of the pacemaker so I asked the cardiologist today and he said that after a year and a half, those wires weren't going anywhere.  Good to know.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Rehab Revisited

Yesterday morning, after spending the night with his wife giving him heck and after my sister telling him she couldn't do this any more, he agreed to go into rehab.

No one wanted to let that window of opportunity go by, so my sister dropped everything and picked him up and drove him the 200 miles to St. Louis.  Obviously, it wasn't all as easy as this single sentence indicates, but the end result is that he agreed to go.

They got to the rehab center in St. Louis around 6:00 or 7:00 and then the intake process took about 4 hours.

So he is now in rehab!!!!!  He has to be kept isolated for 96 hours and then he can get and make phone calls.

The Center indicated that it would probably be a 30-day stay, but I sure hope they keep him longer than that.  The last 30-day stay (at a different rehab center) didn't "take" -- but then, he didn't really put his heart into the last one and he seems to be more motivated this time.

So that's the short version of today's story.  If you pray, please include him in your prayers. And at any rate, keep him in your thoughts.

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Detox

I've really lost track of the last few days.  But the bottom line is that this morning his wife called me and handed my brother the phone.  He was mumbling so bad I couldn't understand him.  So we hung up.  His wife called back and said, "He agreed to go to detox -- here, talk to your brother."

So she handed him the phone again and he mumbled but he did say he would go to detox.  I asked his wife if she would take him and she said yes.  So he said he would put his jeans on.

So she took him to the Ozark Medical Center and then called my sister and said, "You need to get over here, I have other things to do."  ????!!!!!!!! (good grief).  So my sister rushed to the hospital (which I think was about 35 miles).  If my brother's wife couldn't see this thing through, she shouldn't have gotten it started.

So at the ER, they ran tests and since they couldn't find any sort of illness they said they couldn't keep him, they were going to release him.  We spent 4 or 5 hours trying to find a rehab center that would take him and it turns out that they won't accept him unless he signs himself in and he absolutely refuses to do that.

The lady at the rehab center told us that alcoholics usually won't go into rehab voluntarily until they hit rock bottom and no longer have any lifelines.  My sister has been checking in on him several times a day and doing things for him, etc., and we were told that needed to stop.  He needs to know that he is on his own.

This is going to be really tough, not checking on him and not knowing if he is dead or alive, but I think we have all agreed that it has to be that way.  So she will be bringing him back from the hospital tonight (unless by some miracle he agrees to be taken to the rehab center in St. Louis).

Emotional.  Stay tuned for the next episode.

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Update

My brother agreed to let himself be  taken to hospital today to detox -- again.  And he has sort of agreed to go into rehab.  As you can imagine, there's a lot of stuff going on leading up to this, but I'll let that go for now.  We are holding our breaths.  More later.

Thursday, November 9, 2017

My brother

Well, my brother made it through one week of work and then this week he went to work drunk and they fired him.  This made him angry and he feels like he is being singled out and mistreated, etc.

His wife -- who by now is understandably unbelievably frazzled and confused, etc. -- has kept trying to rebuild their relationship but it just hasn't worked.  She still says she is moving out of the house, but I guess that could go either way.  She probably needs to take some time and organize her thoughts about her own future.

We are going to try to get COBRA insurance for him so he at least will have coverage in the coming months for those inevitable times when he passes out and/or falls.  We want to help him but I think we've reached the point where there is not much else we can do.  He refuses rehab.  In spite of my sister stocking his refrigerator with food that he likes (and also providing some Boost), he has pretty much stopped eating and has lost about 30 pounds in the past month or so.

He did agree to see a therapist and that appointment is set for next Friday, but I wouldn't put any bets on him actually letting us take him when the time comes.

I'm still reeling from all of this.  Why didn't we see this coming?  He and his wife visited me for a few days in Denver a year ago and there was absolutely no sign of any drinking.  It is mind boggling.


Sunday, October 29, 2017

Match.com

First of all, I think my brother and his wife spent this weekend talking -- and he goes back to work tomorrow -- and he has been sober for about 10 days now, so things are really looking up there.  We are all so glad.

Mia is still really clinging to me (except, of course, whenever a rabbit gets involved and in that case she could care less about me).  I wish I knew what was going on with her.

Now, here's my Match.com story.  I've been toying with the idea of joining Match for a few months now.  I talk to so many people who say they met someone using Match.  But I didn't bother looking up actual reviews.  So on Friday I bit the bullet and joined for 3 months ($83).

I got one email and it didn't interest me so I thought I should be polite and let him know.  So I replied and said "no, thanks."  He replied and said he never sent me an email.  So he did some checking and evidently -- according to him -- Match steals sign-in names and emails and sends them out randomly to generate activity.  Sheesh!  I'm glad I'm using Marshall's old email address to do this.

So this morning I canceled my subscription, which basically means (I hope) they deactivate my membership and make me "invisible" (I hope).  They won't refund any money and they stress that I will still be a member until January 28, 2018 so I can reactivate any time between now and then.  I will have to watch my credit card carefully in January. So basically I have spent about $40 a day to experiment with Match!

And this morning I also decided to check reviews.  I found one site that covered reviews for Match and there were 2550 reviews and every one of them talked about emails and passwords being stolen and used to generate false activity.  And their refusal to refund any money.  But to be very fair, as I was signing up I read every single paragraph of the "Terms and Conditions" and they do make it very clear that they do not refund money and that in order to cancel the subscription a person needs to follow certain steps, which I did.  So the people who are complaining most likely didn't read all that fine print.

I probably wouldn't have canceled so quickly except for the fact that my very first encounter was bogus!

I just checked the Better Business Bureau site and Match is NOT accredited by the BBB.  The BBB website has a little blurb on the information about Match saying that Match has been very cooperative with the BBB to try to straighten these issues out -- the latest post was in August 2017.  The BBB says they will monitor Match carefully to see how they do in the coming months.  That made me feel a teeny-tiny bit less taken advantage of (smile).

I'm posting this information just so anyone reading this will see my experience with Match.  I think I'll just let the Universe decide my fate....

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Camp BowWow

Usually when I take Mia to Camp BowWow she can't wait to get out of the car and she never looks back at me, doesn't seem to care at all if I'm there.  She can't wait to get in with the other camp dogs.

But yesterday and today she acted scared to death to go in and she was clinging to me like crazy.  Very disturbing.  So I discussed it with the trainer and she discussed it with the staff.  They said that Mia had had a mild "tiff" with another dog and they think that could have made her a little leery.  So I left her there today and she basically just worked with the trainer today and didn't go into the regular population.

I'll take her back on Monday for another training session and I'll leave her for a few hours.  We'll see how it goes.

I was going to go see Bruno Mars (who I LOVE) at the Pepsi Center with some friends on 10/30, but this walking pneumonia thing made me bow out.  I am so bummed.  I could wear a mask but that wouldn't stop my coughing and, frankly, wouldn't really do much to comfort any concert-goers sitting near me.  So I don't get to see him.

My brother goes back to work on Monday and he is now living back at his house.  I'm not clear on whether or not his wife is with him or whether she is still moving out.

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Brother going back to work

I didn't get the long story yet, but the short story is that my brother has been released to go back to work and is scheduled to start on Monday, October 30.  Good news indeed.

As for me, my doctor says I have walking pneumonia.  I am so tired of coughing.  It's been over two weeks now.

Friday, October 20, 2017

Progress

Well, between my sister and my brother's best friend, over the past four days they got my brother sobered up enough to make his doctor appointment so that he can hopefully get released to go back to work.  At some point today I think he got results but I don't know yet how it turned out.

So there is a chance my brother will go back to work on Monday.  Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

I still have some lingering flu symptoms -- can't stop coughing.

Monday, October 16, 2017

Things are relatively quiet the past two days

I didn't get any updates yesterday or today regarding my brother so things appear to be quiet.

But with regard to Mia it's been an interesting/scary time.  She goes bananas over rabbits and we have tons of rabbits around here.  Yesterday I had her out for a walk and two rabbits ran by.  Normally I try to watch and I see the rabbits first and can get prepared for her unbelievable reaction but yesterday I must have been daydreaming.  Anyway, these two rabbits ran by and she backed out of her harness and was out of sight in under 5 seconds.  And since we are on a VERY busy street, I just knew it was all she wrote for Mia.  I called her and called her and even though I could hear her barking, she didn't come when I called and when I tried to locate her she was running around so fast (in Rabbit Utopia) that finding her was impossible.

So I called my neighbor Janine, who has a big dog named Conner who Mia does not get along with, and Janine came over and brought Conner with her.  We started walking around and all of a sudden we saw Mia a few blocks away doing cartwheels over those rabbits.  She looked our way and saw Conner and she came running wanting to get in her usual battle with Conner (I guess Conner trumps rabbits -- good to know).  When she got close enough, Janine was able to pick her up.  I wanted to punish her and kiss her at the same time.  I was so glad to get her back.

Now I have to try to find an escape proof harness and since I've already bought about 25 allegedly escape proof harnesses, I don't hold out much hope.  What I really need is a yard and that is out of the question right now.

Friday, October 13, 2017

Alcoholism

Well, I have had the flu and stayed in bed all this week.  First time I've had the flu in quite a few years.  But I think I am on the upturn now.  Didn't make it to any exercise classes, though.  We'll try again next week.

And now I have decided to share what's been going on in my family for the past three months.  It's public knowledge so I'm not telling any secrets.

My brother is an alcoholic and in the past three months there has been an escalation of his desire to drink.  His wife kicked him out.  His job put him on probation and told him not to come back until he's sober.  It's been three months and there has been no sign of sobriety so I guess we all know what's bound to happen with the job situation so I guess it won't be too long before he will be without any prospect of income.

When his wife kicked him out, my sister took him in with the promise that there would be no alcohol at her house.  It took him less than an hour to break that promise.

He went to rehab in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but released himself after 30 days and was drinking within a day.

He fell and hit his head on a rock and fractured the spine in his neck.  He was told to wear a brace and he won't wear it, so who knows what will happen there.

He has fallen three more times and was transported to ICU in an ambulance.  Two of those times they kept him long enough for him to detox but as soon as he got out he went to one of his secret places and got some booze.  Boy, he can be so very clever in finding hiding places.  My sister went out and cut some weeds on the side of her house and found a bottle hidden in the weeds.

The other time he fell was two days ago and he was taken by ambulance to ICU again.  They did a CT scan and x-rays and found no changes in the fracture.  He demanded to be released so he could get to his bottle.  And the sad thing is, he does not appear to feel any gratitude whatsoever for my sister staying by his side throughout all of this.

When she brought him home from the hospital yesterday he went straight to where the weeds used to be and got a bit upset that she had cut the weeds.

My sister has an old trailer out in the middle of the woods.  It hasn't been used in ages.  But my brother has now been banished to that trailer to drink himself silly.  Someone will go out and check on him periodically to be sure he hasn't fallen again and my sister will take food out there.  She's going to take the most nutritious things that she thinks he might eat.  We were told that alcohol depletes the good stuff and that in addition it might be helpful if he would drink some Boost every day to help replenish some nutrients.  Supposedly, at the very least, that will help the alcohol absorb slower.   Other than that, he is now on his own and he won't do well on his own and that is sad.  And he appears to have no idea how lucky he is to have a place to go.

In the meantime, his wife is moving out of their house and as soon as she is gone, he will go back to his house.  But since it won't be long before he won't be able to pay the mortgage, he'll probably lose the house and the trailer will be his only option.

The doctor said that he is a danger to himself and others but that no one is to blame but him.  We tried to get my brother to go back into rehab and stay the full 90 days but he refuses.

The doctor wanted to keep my brother in ICU for 3 days to detox but was again met with refusal.

There's lots more to this story, but you get the gist.  My sister has been a saint.  And the irony is that she is the only member of our family who has never touched alcohol in her entire life, not even a sip.

This is incredibly emotional.  He is 15 years younger than me so I spent a lot of time taking him to Cardinals games, Bob Seger concerts, just stuff that my dad didn't want to do.  So I  have all these memories of an adorable little blond-haired, blue-eyed boy and wondering where it all went wrong.

I will update regularly for anyone who may read this who is interested in how "end stage alcoholism" progresses.

Friday, October 6, 2017

Rec Center

Today I took the Friday Silver Sneakers class and it was different from Monday's, but still wonderful.

Monday was more aerobic and active (but still within my abilities).  And today was much less aerobic, but more balance, stretching, resistance bands and relaxation.  I left feeling very good.

The weather has been colder and colder and I hear snow is around the corner.

Monday, October 2, 2017

Silver Sneakers

First of all, this massacre in Vegas is unbelievable.  I have been praying all day for the dead and injured, as well as their families and friends.  This world has gotten so scary.

******************************
This morning I went to the Rec Center and did one of their Silver Sneakers classes.  It was a perfect hour of exercise for me.  Just strenuous enough.  And the instructor was a ton of fun.  And surprisingly, there were quite a few men in the class.  Anyway, I plan to go to these classes regularly.

I may have mentioned in the past that my cats are scratching the heck out of my furniture.  I got rid of the leather couch and recliner before they had a chance to totally destroy them.  And I got a new couch and recliner that has a microsuede upholstery that supposely cats don't like.  NOT.  So I've been experimenting and finally came up with a goofy setup that seems to be cat proof.

First, I put a cheap protective cover on the couch (which did not deter them).  Then I laid throw rugs over the protective cover and that worked to a degree but the rugs kept moving.  So I found some "Smurf Blue" faux sheepskin rugs over the couch.  I put these rugs out about a week ago and the cats like to snuggle in the rug but so far there have been NO attempts at scratching.  I think I've got it...

So here is my Smurf City:

As you can see, my cats pretty much now own the house.

Friday, September 29, 2017

Winter is almost here

I heard from my friends in Westcliffe that the mountains down there are covered with snow already.  I sure do miss that.

Still have family issues that aren't resolving but we continue to work on it.

Camp BowWow tells me that Mia has shown some aggressive behavior.  They say they will watch her carefully and if happens regularly, she will not be able to come back.  Hopefully it was an isolated instance.  They were putting down a bowl of water and she wanted a drink but another dog got there first and she snapped.  No big deal yet, but something to watch.

I almost bought a house in a gated senior community -- only people age 55 and up can live there.  It had a golf course, indoor pool, outdoor pool, clubhouse, tennis courts, etc. etc.  I stopped and talked to some of the residents and they all say they love it there.  And I loved the house.  I gave them a check and filled out the application -- and got approved -- but at the last minute I realized that it was way out of my price range and I backed out.

Today I had my annual visit to the dermatologist.   I have a lot -- A LOT -- of those age spots.  If they would all just grow together I would have a beautiful tan!  The dermatologist says they are Seborrheic Keratoses.  (My dermatologist back in Illinois called them "Senile Keratoses.")  What a comedian.

But I also had about 7 or 8 "pre-cancers" on my face and he froze them off.  Ah, the things we do in the name of getting older.

Our weather has been in the 50s and I kind of like it.

And I am attaching a RARE photo of my three animals napping together.  That never happens.  They even stayed there while I went and got the camera.  So darn cute.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

I'm back

For the past several months, our family has been dealing with a few issues that I'm not at liberty to broadcast in this blog.  So I haven't been in the mood to write.

But life has kept on going.  Mia goes to a trainer twice a week and she has been really improving.  But her outdoor behavior is still a little crazy, especially where rabbits are concerned.  We will keep at it.

I've been dealing with my HOA and that's always challenging.  I'm just trying to do simple things like spiff up the front of the townhouse, but they have told me I can't do it, so I give up.  Today I got a letter from them telling me I was in violation of the covenants by having a shingle that is coming loose.  They included two photos, one of the front door showing my address, and the other of the shingle that was coming loose.  They said if I didn't fix it in 7 days I would be fined.

Interestingly, however, the photo they sent of the loose shingle was green and my shingles are yellow.  Good grief.  So I called them and after a stupid conversation, the guy finally said to disregard the letter.  I hate HOAs.

I haven't been to the rec center in quite a while.  I'll try to get back in the groove soon.

I've been doing a lot of retail therapy (shopping).

The motorcycle sits in the garage gathering dust.  I need to do something with it but can't bring myself to part with it.  It has too much Marshall in it.

I still get together with a few women from the grief group and that is very comforting.

Friday, July 28, 2017

Coffee

I have now been off of caffeine for one whole week.  The shakes have calmed down and the other symptoms have almost disappeared.  But boy, do I want a cup of coffee. I have a hard time getting my car to drive past a Starbucks without going in.  :)

On Wednesday my knee felt so good I went out and did a bunch of errands.  That was the wrong thing to do.  I should have waited another day or two.  By the time I got home I could barely put any weight on that knee.  So I guess I'll give it more time.  It is so frustrating.  But as Bette Davis said: "Old age is not for sissies."

My patio has been overrun by centipedes and I am so scared of bugs.  I sure miss Marshall.  He was Chief Bug Killer.  But I guess every time I have to do something that freaks me out -- like spraying for centipedes -- it builds character.  Right?  So I sprayed twice and now when I go out the door there's a bunch of dead centipedes.  Still yukky but not like seeing the live ones.  I hope I have gotten rid of them.  So far I haven't seen any in the house -- thank goodness!!

There was a wasp's nest on the garage side of the townhouse and I've never had to get rid of a wasp's nest before (again, where is my Chief Bug Killer?).  But I guess I built more character.  I sprayed the nest for three consecutive nights and all the wasps are gone.  But I just can't bring myself to actually remove the empty nest.  Spraying was a little easier because I could do it from 20 feet away.  But I just can't get close enough to remove the nest.  Some day somebody will drop by and I will be able to talk them into doing it for me. (ha) In the meantime, I don't linger when going in and out of the garage.


Friday, July 21, 2017

July 22, 2015

Tomorrow is the 2nd anniversary of Marshall's death.  ðŸ’”

Monday, July 17, 2017

Arthritis

Well, it turns out that doing a lot of kneeling in a 90-minute yoga class can cause a swollen bursa that brings a lot of pain.  I've been babying the right knee but finally went to the doctor for x-rays.  The right knee has two bone spurs on the right and one larger bone spur on the left and the bursa is swollen.  The doctor said the swollen bursa is normally caused by kneeling and the only kneeling I've done recently was in that yoga class.  The doctor advised me to stay away from yoga for the time being.

And last week I decided -- for the millionth time -- to give up coffee because it is causing me to have extreme tremors.  So I stopped coffee around the same time I took the yoga class.  Over the course of the next few days the tremors stopped, but I also developed extreme joint pain -- especially the hips -- and when I did some internet searches one thing that I came up with was caffeine withdrawal.  Caffeine withdrawal can cause a myriad of side effects that can last 7 to 14 days.  The sciatica has let up a bit so I'll wait it out and see what 14 days brings.

I did a bit more "surfing" and came up with a blog of someone who gave up caffeine and they were recording each day of withdrawal.  Sciatic pain was at the top of his list.  But he included a little blurb that I thought was hilarious:

Once upon a time everyone woke up and all the coffee in the world had vanished. In the next week all companies went bankrupt except panadol and ibuprofen. Everybody got divorced or killed someone. Nobody blogged or did any study. Children took over the world and the remaining parents didn't care about that or anything else. The end.

Friday, June 30, 2017

Yoga

I took a yoga class for seniors today and it was perfect.  So I will be going back.

I had a session with my personal trainer yesterday and that is also going well.

A dear friend of mine died this morning.  He died exactly like Marshall.  Prostate cancer caused by Agent Orange in Viet Nam.  He's been fighting it for several years just like Marshall did.  So sad.

Now, on to the topic of skin cancer.  I've been going to a dermatologist regularly (mainly because my mom died of skin cancer) and there have been a few of what they call pre-cancers and they froze those off.  But there were two spots -- one on the nose and one on the cheek) that they wanted me to use Efudex on.  Efudex is a chemotherapy cream.  You apply it to the designated spots every morning and night and after two weeks if nothing happens except for some redness, it means that those spots are just normal actinic keratosis (I think that's how it is spelled).  What is fascinating about this cream is that you can put it on areas of your skin that are perfectly clear and if there are cancers hiding that haven't surfaced yet, this cream will bring them out.  In a way, that's kind of scary, isn't it?  

Well, if after two weeks, those spots get all ugly looking, that means it was either pre-cancer or cancer.  Well, my two spots got all ugly looking.  So I will have to make an appointment for a double check to be sure this cream got rid of it.

I did a little research on this cream and it appears that some people -- if they can get a prescription -- will apply this cream to their entire face and when the redness clears up, their skin is all brand new and younger looking.  Boy, that seems a little excessive... and dangerous.

Monday, June 26, 2017

Mia and Artemis

Mia's trainer wanted to get Mia out in public today so that hopefully we might encounter other dogs and we could see how Mia reacts.  It was a very hot day so we met at the lake at 5:30, hoping that it would be cooler.  Cheyanne brought her pit bull Artemis again.

Mia continues to get along with Artemis (it's unbelievable the progress she has made).  Here is a picture of Mia getting "re-introduced" to Artemis.
 So we went on our walk and Mia and Artemis were walking side by side beautifully.  Incredible.

However, after a few minutes, Mia started panting and wheezing and having extreme difficulty breathing and her body felt extremely hot.  Cheyanne had water and poured water on Mia's body and forehead and that helped a bit.  We immediately headed back to our cars and Cheyanne carried Mia.  When we got back to the car, I got the air conditioner going and put out water which she devoured.  She started improving immediately.  By the time I got her home she was acting normal again.  She sure scared me.  I'm sure that was a reaction to heat.  I guess we will limit walks while the temperature stays so hot.

I had a session with the personal trainer this morning and that is really progressing nicely.  I see him again on Thursday.

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Yoga

This morning I went to the Rec Center to take a yoga class.  The title of the class was "Basic Yoga."  To me, that sounded like it might be perfect for me.  HAH!!

I got there 15 minutes early so that I could talk to the instructor about my limitations and what I should do, etc., but he was way too busy to talk to me.  He just said, "get a mat, a strap and a block and find a spot."  So that didn't sit well with me.

There were about 25 or 30 people in the class and they were clearly all very experienced at yoga.  While I, on the other hand, could not master anything he wanted us to do.  Frankly, I didn't understand most of what he was telling us to do.  Eventually he noticed that I was having difficulty and he came over to help me and it was kind of embarrassing the way he did it.  So obviously "Basic Yoga" isn't what I thought it was.

The only other yoga class offered by the Rec Center is called "Chair Yoga."  So I will try to take that class and see if it's more my style.

Mia is showing progress in her tolerance of other dogs.


Thursday, June 22, 2017

Trainer(s)

First of all, Mia's trainer come on Tuesday and she brought her pit bull with her.  Whenever I take Mia out for a walk, if we run into another dog, Mia goes crazy.  But Cheyanne was able to "introduce" Mia to her pit bull Artemis and within about 5 minutes Mia and Artemis were buddies and Cheyanne took them on a walk together.  I've got a lot to learn.

Then on Wednesday I saw my trainer and actually worked out.  I am really liking the Thornton Carpenter Rec Center.

I've also been trying to find a place where I can take some dance lessons -- I think it would be so much fun.  But so far, every place I've found on the internet is only for young children or they are on vacation for the summer, etc.  I'll keep looking.

My cardiologist told me to start monitoring my blood pressure here at home and it has been consistently high.  I believe the exercise program will help to bring it down.


Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Cardiology visit

This morning was my quarterly visit with the cardiologist as well as my pacemaker "interrogation."  The pacemaker checked out perfectly and I haven't had any A-fib episodes.  There are still 5-1/2 years left on the battery.

I asked the Medtronics guy about the hacker possibility and he said that right now the hackers are only able to mess with the wireless pacemakers and the Medtronics pacemakers (like I've got) have wires and can only be reprogrammed with a special apparatus that sits on my chest.  So that was pleasant news.  He said that the other pacemaker manufacturers are quickly making the appropriate changes to keep their pacemakers hacker-proof.

The cardiologist said that I am now truly released for any and all exercise now.  So I will pass that on to my personal trainer when I have my first actual session tomorrow. I met with him on Monday to talk about my health and my goals and he showed me the equipment.  He also wants me to take the yoga class that is offered at the Rec Center, as well as the Silver Sneakers class.  But he wants me to start slow so that he can monitor any pain or any bad form.

My blood pressure was high today and the cardiologist wants me to start taking it every day and keeping a chart.

He also showed me the printout of my Pacemaker "interrogation" and pointed out what changes we can hope to see as I get involved in the sessions with the personal trainer.  If I understood correctly -- and I'm never totally sure I understand this pacemaker stuff -- the more I work out the more my heart takes over and the pacemaker rests.  I hope I understood that correctly because that is very motivating.

Mia's trainer comes to the house today.  I may have to cut back on that, though, because it's $60 an hour and it is getting way too expensive, especially when I am also paying for my own trainer.

Saturday, June 17, 2017

A good cry

I went through my mail this morning and there was an envelope from my dear lifelong friend Donna and it contained this photo taken by her husband when they visited after Marshall was diagnosed.  Brought on a sudden short-lived cry but what a great photo.  It was especially interesting because once the motorcycle had its custom paint job he never rode it out to the house because of the rocks.  He stored it in town.  So this was probably the only time the bike was at the house.

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Personal Trainer

I went over to the Thornton Recreation Center today and got signed up for a personal trainer.  He will hopefully call me tomorrow and get me on a schedule.  I'm excited about that.

Mia is finished with her antibiotics now but still seems to be wheezing a little.  I guess I'll call the vet tomorrow and ask about it.

And Mia now has a "personal trainer" coming here to the house twice a week and it is doing wonders.  The trainer's name is Cheyanne and Mia just adores her.  When Cheyanne shows up, Mia goes crazy, she gets so happy to see her.  And she is learning to sit, stay, wait, down, and heel.  We need to practice more, but she is learning fast.

I read an article recently about hackers now being able to hack into the programming for pacemakers and are able to actually kill people.  That was quite unsettling to read.  I see my cardiologist on Tuesday and I'll ask him about it.  I also want to ask him why my heart rate raises when I'm driving.  That doesn't make any sense.

Friday, June 9, 2017

Bear

My nearest neighbor at my house in Westcliffe sent me this picture of a visitor who went to my old house and then down to his cabin.  I sure miss sights like this.

Massage

Yesterday I got a hot stone massage.  I didn't pay attention when I booked it, but it was a full two hours and first there was a facial, then a sugar scrub for the feet and then the hot stone massage.  I probably wouldn't want the facial or the foot scrub but the hot stone massage?   Ahhhhhh, I will definitely do that again.  When I left there I felt like there wasn't a stressful bone left in my body.  It was awesome.

While I was there, my phone buzzed with one of those Amber Alerts.  A 10-year-old girl had disappeared and the last time she was seen she was just a mile from my townhouse.  When I got home the police were everywhere and there were about 100 people across the street from my front door.  I learned that they found the little girl's body in a ravine across the street from my front door.  There was yellow police tape everywhere, even across the garage door of a townhouse around the corner from me (can't wait to hear why they had to do that).

The police were over there pretty late last night and then back again this morning doing their investigating.

They aren't saying much about how she died, but one newscaster did say that it is possible she got swept away by a flash flood -- we had one heck of a storm Wednesday night. It is just heartbreaking.

I went to Pueblo today to get my car serviced at Pueblo Toyota.  It's a 2-hour drive but well worth it because I know all of them and they know me and I trust them.  I was able to have lunch with friends while I was there.

When I left there, I got on I-25 to head home and saw a really jazzy burnt-orange car and when I looked to see what it was, it was a Toyota 4Runner.  I want it.

Friday, June 2, 2017

Mia - The Escape Artist

Well, over the past several months, Mia has been able to escape from her harness twice.  Once, she almost got hit by a car when she ran out into the road.  The second time I was able to kind of throw myself on top of her to restrain her.  So I have been very very careful with her outside because the sight (or smell) of a rabbit throws her into a frenzy.  And I don't have a yard, so she has to be on leash.

Here lately, now that summer is pretty much here, the sprinkler systems go on twice a day and she is absolutely fascinated with the sprinklers.  I think they even trump rabbits for her.  She wants to attack the water.  So in order to keep myself from being drenched I have been trying to figure out the timing of the sprinklers and take her out when I'm pretty sure they won't be coming on.

But tonight I didn't time it right.  I was trying to make sure she did her business so I lingered a bit too long.  The sprinkler nearest to us came on and she turned into a little tornado.  I have a leash now that is supposed to be escape proof but she was able to go into a frenzy of back-and-forths and cartwheels and she got away again.  Fortunately she was only interested in the sprinkler and not in running out into traffic.  I had no choice but to jump into the sprinkler to try to grab her and she kept avoiding me (I'll bet we put on a good show for the neighbors).  When I was able to pick her up she fought me and we both fell back onto my concete steps.  I got a big gash in my arm but I was able to get her into the house and we both were dripping wet.  I am so mad at her, and she knows it.  I try to remember that she spent the majority of her life in a crate and she is fascinated by being able to explore things, but I worry about her safety.

I've been taking her to obedience training twice a week and she is making great progress.  But that is indoors.  Outdoors is another story so the trainer is going to start coming to the house to see if she can accomplish more "on location."

Thursday, June 1, 2017

My friend Tony

When we lived in Westcliffe, there was a cabin down the road a bit owned by a really nice couple, Tony and Margaret.  They live in Aurora and only go down to their cabin on weekends or holidays.  During the years of Marshall's illness, every time they came down, Tony would come over and help fix things or install things, etc.  When Marshall was close to the end, he asked Tony to look out for me.

So now that I live about 20 minutes from Tony, he calls periodically to see if I need any help with anything.  Today was door day -- my front storm door got caught in a major wind and kind of got a little wacky.  So he fixed it.  And helped with a few other little things.

He came over on his Harley -- I love it.  Maybe the neighbors will think I'm part of a gang...


My pacemaker has been behaving strangely, doesn't seem to be keeping my heart rate in the proper range.  Just walking the dog takes my heart rate up to 105 -- not acceptable.  So I have a call in to my cardiologist and may need to get in to see him.  Ugh.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Trip home

I had breakfast with Audrey and Cheryl and then headed towards St. Louis.

Stopped in Indianapolis to see my cousin Amy and her husband Roger.  

They are ballroom dancers and they are fascinating.  I just did a quick internet search and came up with a picture:

And I also found a YouTube video of them dancing -- so cool:

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-iry-fullyhosted_011&hsimp=yhs-fullyhosted_011&hspart=iry&p=roger%2Band%2Bamy%2Bgreenawalt%2Bdancing#id=1&vid=02ba1d3fa954f839dc5f760194b0f24a&action=click

Then I got on the road again, went through a few storms and got to Tricia's house.  Ed makes his own beer (he has a cool setup in the basement) and this year he started making his own hops, so I still had a small bag of Marshall's ashes so Ed spread them on the soil of his hops plants.  I think Marshall would be tickled to know that he is part of the beer-making process.


I spent the night at Tricia and Ed's and headed out on Sunday morning.  I was hoping to drive all the way through but I was too tired.  I stopped at a Holiday Inn in Abilene, Kansas.  When I got to the room, I laid down and immediately went to sleep.  I didn't wake up until this morning at 6:30AM.  I sure must have been tired.

I got back to Denver around 3:30 and picked Mia up from Camp BowWow -- I was so glad to see her again.  Now I'm home and plan to go to bed early again.  What a trip!  I'm so glad it's done and I'm sure Marshall is, too....

Friday, May 26, 2017

Starbucks in West Virginia

Update: today we found a Starbucks in Beckley, West Virginia.

Starbucks sells coffee cups in a promotion called "You Are Here," meaning that when you are in Chicago you can buy a cup that says Chicago and has the Chicago skyline on it.  Or if you are in Denver, you can buy a cup that says Denver, etc. etc.

So we went to Starbucks in Beckley and I didn't see any West Virginia cups so I asked the barista about it.  She said, "they don't make cups for West Virginia."  So I mentioned that it was hard to find a Starbucks in West Virginia and she said they were told that Starbucks is planning to open two new stores a year in West Virginia for the next several years so maybe they will finally get a cup.

Now we need to work on Kentucky.

Scattering Ashes

We had a great breakfast at Bob Evans and then started our cemetery odyssey.

First we visited the graves of Marshall's Uncle Benny and Aunt Ann, two of his favorite relatives and we scattered just a few ashes there.

Audrey, me and Cheryl (Marshall's niece):


Then off to Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens.  First to the grave of Carl Mullins, Marshall's brother, who died at a young age.


Then to the graves of Marshall's parents, Denver and Grace Mullens (they chose to spell Mullins different than other parts of the family):
Then we went shopping for a few hours and are now back at the hotel resting.  We'll have dinner tonight and then breakfast tomorrow and then off we go....


Thursday, May 25, 2017

In West Virginia

Tricia and I went to breakfast this morning.  We had such a nice visit.

And then I made it out of Missouri, and then through Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky and finally around midnight (Eastern Time) made it to West Virginia. The last hour was harrowing because the West Virginia Turnpike is always under construction and it was pouring rain and very dark.  It was a steering-wheel-gripper hour or so.  I was so glad to get to the hotel.

Marshall's niece Cheryl waited up for me but Audrey (his sister) went to bed.  Evidently she isn't feeling too well so we'll need to take it easy tomorrow.  She brought flowers to put at the graves for Memorial Day.  And then we will scatter the ashes.

I'm going to try to stop in St. Louis again on my way home.

I am so tired.  It's bedtime...

NOTE:  Kentucky and West Virginia are evidently not big on Starbucks.  I think I'm in withdrawal!

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Made it to St. Louis

I can't believe I was able to drive 14 hours today.  I made it to St. Louis and am spending the night (or what's left of it) at Tricia's house.

It was a beautiful today all across Colorado, Kansas and Missouri so that made the trip pleasant.  And I love listening to XM Radio's "Radio Classics" so I enjoyed listening to old radio shows all the way.

I should make it to Beckley, West Virginia, Thursday evening and we will scatter the ashes on Friday.

Monday, May 22, 2017

Packing for West Virginia

I started packing.  I think I'm all ready to go so that I can just lay around tomorrow and rest up for that long drive.

All the animals seem to be doing really well, thank goodness.

They are predicting freezing weather tonight -- and maybe snow.  Please let it be gone by Wednesday.

I may spend some time tomorrow trying to figure out how to use iTunes.  I thought I had a grip on it, but, well, I don't.  I can download a song but for the life of me I can't get it into the Playlist that I want it in.  I need to get on Google....

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Not much snow

It was a little icy last night but this morning the sun came out and the day is pretty nice.

It seems like two of my babies aren't feeling too well.  Okie has been throwing up a lot and Mia has diarrhea and has had it for two days now.  I called the vet and she said to give Mia a bland diet and if she hasn't improved by Monday I should bring her in.  It seems like these bouts of diarrhea seem to come after being at Camp BowWow.  I sure hope there's nothing going on there.  Maybe it's just the excitement of being there.

The vet told me that a bland diet for Mia would be boiled chicken, boiled hamburger, scrambled eggs and maybe cottage cheese.  So I went out this morning and bought what I needed.  But I can tell you this: she is going to love this bland diet and after a day or two of hamburger, chicken and eggs, she definitely will not want to go back to her Blue Buffalo food.  But if it makes her better....

Remember the Wii craze from maybe 10 years ago?  You could go bowling, play tennis, baseball, dance, etc., and you could play against your friends (or, if you were alone, Wii would provide additional avatar players).  The little sensor thingie then showed your movements on the TV.  Dancing was particularly fun because you actually would be dancing with the musician -- like Katy Perry or Michael Jackson, etc. and you could TRY to learn their movements.  We had bought the whole shebang and after a while we stuck it in a closet.  Well, I got it back out again, dusted it off, hooked it up and then went and bought the latest version of Just Dance.  I wasn't sure that the most recent version of Just Dance would be compatible with the original Wii, but it worked.  So I'm having fun with that.

I also actually got situated in my office/studio and started on a jewelry project.  I think I am starting to feel a little motivated again.  I talked to one of the girls from my grief group this morning and she was in full throttle, too.  Maybe this trip to West Virginia will be a boost, knowing that Marshall can now rest knowing I did all the things he asked (it's funny what our imaginations can come up with).

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Snow

Of all things, they are predicting snow for tonight.  It just started raining and the temperature is dropping.  I hope I don't need a snow shovel tomorrow morning because I don't have one.

None of the animals behaved today so I'm not speaking to them right now.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Mia is making progress

Mia had training again today and she is really picking up the commands.  However, she still has trouble responding when she's outdoors and sees or smells a rabbit.  The trainer says she can come to the house and do some at-home training so I think I'll take her up on that when I get back from West Virginia.

And I put in an application to an agility training class that starts, I think, in mid-July.  She will love that.  And it should also provide a nice diversion for me.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Bruno Mars, Uptown Funk and Old Movies

If you like old dancing musicals (Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Shirley Temple, Bojangles, The Marx Brothers, and on and on and on) and if you like my new favorite song, Uptown Funk, then you can really entertain yourself by going to this site:    https://youtu.be/M1F0lBnsnkE

Then after you've watched this video 20 or 30 times (because every time you watch it you will see something you missed), then do a search for "Mashup Uptown Funk" and you will find a bunch more.  It seems to me like a lot of work went into putting these together but they are incredibly entertaining. It makes me want to start taking dancing lessons first thing tomorrow!!


Trip to West Virginia

I've changed the schedule for the trip to West Virginia to scatter ashes.  I will probably leave around May 24.

One of my favorite all-time shows was Frasier and I've been watching reruns.  I have never been an observant person, so it's been interesting to learn something fascinating about the show I never knew -- I wonder if anyone else missed this.

I was watching a rerun last night and Frasier was taking calls on his radio show and the first caller had a voice like Reba McIntyre.  The more I listened to her the more I knew it was her.  The next caller sounded like Lily Tomlin.  So I Googled it and learned that all of the callers are famous people.  So now it's been fun to listen and see if I can figure out who they are.  It's fascinating.

And today I identified (Shazam!) another song I've loved but didn't know who the artist was -- It's Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk.  It took me 5 years to build up 93 songs on my iPod and now I've added two songs in the last two days.  Progress.

Tomorrow Mia goes to "class" again and I'm also trying to set her up in an agility class.  I'm waiting to hear from that trainer.  If I'm able to get her into agility, I know she'll love it.

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Cats and Cubbyholes

I was going through my bedroom drawers to organize and purge and I left the room for a little.  When I got back, here's what I found:

Retail therapy

When Marshall died, he made sure I had a bit of money for "retail therapy."  He knew how much I liked to shop and he was trying to do everything he could to be sure I could make it.  I kept telling him to quit worrying about me and to do things that gave him pleasure and he said at that point it was giving him pleasure to try to take care of me.  Incredible.

Anyway, I have enjoyed my retail therapy thoroughly (THANK YOU, MARSHALL!) but that little pile of money is almost gone and it is time for me to stop.  It's not going to be easy (ha).  I am going to try to replace shopping with exercise and yoga.  Maybe I will finally even be motivated to start making jewelry again.

On Thursday a piece of mail came for Marshall.  It was from the Pueblo Municipal Court and it said he owed $34 for parking an unlicensed vehicle in Pueblo in 2010.  I knew that could not be true because he was an absolute stickler about taking care of those kinds of things.  So I called the court and the clerk told me it was a Mitsubishi and she gave me the license plate.  I told her we never owned such a vehicle and she basically said, "Our records show you did, so if you don't pay you are about to be sent to Collections."  So I called our wonderful Custer County Clerk in Westcliffe -- Marshall had gotten to know everyone in the courthouse in Westcliffe because he did everything in person and he loved to chit-chat.

The Custer County clerk is also named Marilyn.  So I spoke to Marilyn and she checked and called me back and said that plate was definitely not ever registered to Marshall.  So I called Pueblo back and told her what I had learned and she didn't believe me -- she repeated that this matter was going to go to Collection.  So I asked for a supervisor and got voicemail.  Left a detailed message.  The supervisor called me back at the end of the day and she said, "Oops, sorry, we made a mistake."  She didn't apologize, just said they made a mistake and I didn't owe anything.  Our government at work....

I felt pretty good, though, because this is the type of thing Marshall always handled and I did it!  I came very very close to just paying the $34 to get it over with, but I persevered.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Potty Training

Before I went to Durango, I considered Mia to be totally potty trained.  She had behaved for weeks.  Well, now she seems to have forgotten what she's supposed to do.  I can only assume she is mad at me for leaving her behind for a week because she now refuses to do anything outdoors.  I love her to death but she is really getting on my nerves.  ðŸ˜€
On a funny note, though, it is the time of year for the landscaping people to turn on the automatic sprinkler system.  Well, Mia has never seen anything like that and if the sprinklers are on when we go out, she has a blast with the water.  It is hilarious.  But tonight when we went out the sprinklers were on and I didn't realize it but they were getting ready to rotate.  We stepped off the patio and got the sprinklers head on full force.  That wasn't all that funny....

It was a dreary day today and we stayed in and watched TV.

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Mia

Mia went to training again today.  The are doing wonders with her.  She got home and was totally pooped.

She is becoming an expert at getting out of her harness.  She made it out into traffic the last time.  Today she did it again, but I was able to get to her and scoop her up before she realized she was free.  She scares me to death.  I don't know what to do about this.  I've ordered two more "escape-proof" harnesses and they should be here any day now.

There was a pretty bad storm last night -- really scared the animals -- and this morning all of the landscaping in the front was ripped out by the hail.  Last night was my grief group and I'm glad I decided I'd better stay at home.

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Dog Training

This morning I dropped Mia off at Camp BowWow for her training session.  She always get super excited when I pull in at the Camp.  She sure loves it there.

After I dropped her off, I treated myself to some "retail therapy."  I always feel better when I'm shopping.  A few hours at Kohl's kind of makes the world go away.

I picked Mia up at 2:30 and, as usual, she was pooped.  That means she will sleep well tonight. Her training is coming along nicely.  But I don't think they'll ever be able to train her to keep from turning into the Tasmanian Devil whenever she so much as smells a rabbit, much less sees one.  I've been trying to find an escape-proof harness for her but so far without success.  I bet I've got about 20 of them now that just won't work for her.

I need to find a place where she can do some serious running.  Maybe an agility class.  I'll do some checking.

I've been hearing a song that I really liked and wanted to identify.  I hear it when I'm at Walmart playing on their speakers in their playlist.  Yesterday it was playing and I asked someone if they knew what it was and they told me it was called Ex's and Oh's by Elle King.  So then I wanted to get it loaded into my iTunes.  Now, I haven't added anything to my iTunes in several years, I've just been listening to the same 93 songs that I have on my iPod.

I thought this was going to be easy.  HA!  I played around with it yesterday for hours and went back to it today and I was getting so frustrated.  Finally I did what I should have done to begin with -- Googled it.  I'm sure I'm the only person in the world who lost track of the changes and advances in iTunes, but nowadays you don't purchase a song, you need to be an iTunes member ($9.99 a month) and you get unlimited access to songs.  Good grief.

So at least I got my song -- which I really like -- and it will only cost me $9.99 a month.  And -- oh yeah -- I learned something.  There's a lot to be said for that.

I also learned that there is something called Amazon Music so, before I figured out the iTunes thing, I downloaded the Amazon app and bought the song for $1.29.  That was cool, but I then couldn't get it into my iTunes Playlist.  So that's where Google came into play.  And that brought the cost for this one tune up to $11.28.  That reminded me of an old commercial:  "Ex's and Oh's -- $11.28; learning experience - Priceless!"

And here's another thing I learned yesterday: when I asked this person at Walmart if they happened to know the name of the song that was playing, she got her iPhone out, pressed a few buttons and almost instantly handed me her phone and on her screen there was all the information I could possibly want about Elle King and her song.  So I now have Shazam on my iPhone.


Saturday, May 6, 2017

The Aging Process

Today started out with me making a very bad judgment call in a task for my boss which is something that never would have happened a few years ago.  It has thrown me for a loop.  So today I went through disbelief, denial, anger and then reluctant acceptance of the side effects of the aging process.  Not sure what to do going forward.  Something to really think about.

But the day got better.  My neighbor Janine invited me to be her guest at her church's annual High Tea.  It was absolutely delightful.  The church hall was transformed into a beautiful tea room, tables beautifully decorated and candle-lit.  And the male members of the church were dressed just short of black tie and they waited on all the women.  A lot of the women members of the church were wearing huge flowery hats.  The food was tea, scones, petit fours, cookies, finger sandwiches, biscuits, etc.  and there were handsome beautifully dressed men everywhere, glad to bring us whatever we wanted.  Janine and I had a wonderful time.  It sure ended the day better than it started.

Now I am home in my familiar townhouse watching mindless TV -- "mindless" being the key word.

Marshall's sister and I are starting to make the plans to scatter the rest of Marshall's ashes in West Virginia on his mom and dad's graves. We have tentatively set the date of July 22 (the 2-year anniversary of his death) to meet in Beckley, West Virginia, and go to the Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens.  I wonder how we will feel once that is done.  It will truly be the end of all activities relating to Marshall.  So sad.  I miss him now just as much as I missed him two years ago.

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Massage

Today was my bimonthly massage.  Somehow I can't seem to get into a groove with this guy.  Every time I go, I tell him I don't want one of those deep massages, I want a light one.  And he always says he understands what I mean.  And then he tries to break up every knot he can find and it hurts.  Then I get home and I feel like I've been in a car accident.  So when I made my appointment for the next one, I asked for a different therapist.  I hope I can get a massage that just makes me want to take a nap!

The weather was great today.  Maybe spring is almost here.

Mia was doing really well in the potty training department but since I got back from Durango she has reverted a bit.  GRRRRR.  And the rabbits are out again so controlling Mia when we're outside is a challenge.  A few weeks ago she managed to back out of her harness and she ran right out into traffic.  I got pretty worked up trying to catch her.  Thank goodness the traffic all stopped (it is a very busy street) and a few people even got out and tried to help me get her but that just scared her.  But she eventually came back to me. I sure wish I had a yard.







Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Catching Up

Just a quick catch-up.

Things are still going along nicely.  My dental stuff is all done and I have a very pretty smile....

I still have not had an episode of atrial fibrillation for a very long time.  And that is great.  The pacemaker is doing nicely but I think it may need tweaking -- it seems to kind of over-work whenever I do anything that requires exertion.  We'll see.  I still have tremors but I believe they are related to coffee consumption.  I try to give it up but I am truly addicted.

I had the plantation shutters installed and they look awesome.  They cost a fortune but well worth it.  I feel like I'm in a whole new house. (I threw in a picture of my three babies being exceptionally well behaved.)



In April I met up with an old high school classmate in Durango for the Durango Meltdown Bluegrass Festival.  Spent about five days there and we had so much fun.  I'm still not very good at selfies but I'm practicing.  (I finally quit dying my hair and realize that I can live with my natural look...)
I think my sister is having a heck of a time with the unending rain they've been having in southern Missouri.  I'm planning to go visit her towards the end of May.  I hope it's dried up by then.

I have had an interesting last few weeks.  One of the girls at the grief group told me about a neighbor of hers who lost his wife and was looking for someone to talk to.  She asked if I would be willing to talk to him, so I said yes.  I didn't want to give out my actual name or address or phone number (just being careful) so we started emailing (I have a special email for things like this).  He's 80 years old and I'll call him Roy.

After a week of emailing he started asking if we could meet and have lunch or dinner and I felt like it might be getting to be more than I planned on, but I thought it couldn't hurt.  However, before doing that I decided that we should discuss -- by email -- the three big things that can break up a friendship: politics, religion and race issues.  So I sent him an email telling him how I felt about those three things and I guess my political views were more than he could handle.  He replied saying, "Well, you are right, political views can end a friendship, so let's end this one."  LOL!!  I think I dodged a bullet.

Mia has been going to training twice a week at Camp BowWow and they have done wonders with her.  We still have a way to go but she is certainly progressing.

I'm waiting for the weather to get nice so I can try taking the motorcycle out.

That's all I can think of.  More later.



Friday, March 24, 2017

A penny

Remember when I said any time I found a penny it meant Marshall was here?

Today I was going through more things -- every time I think I'm finished, I find another few items.  There was a stack of his keys in the dresser so I was trying to see if I knew what any of them were for.  I wasn't able to figure out any of them, but I don't dare throw them away, so I will just keep them in a box in a drawer.  However, laying with the keys was a penny with a heart cut out of the middle.  That was a nice surprise!

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Catching up

Haven't made it to Tai Chi yet -- too many other things have interjected.  Maybe next week.

Yesterday was my quarterly visit to the cardiologist.  Everything is humming along nicely and the Pacemaker is functioning perfectly.  The remaining battery life is about six years.

Today was my last "fitting" at the dentist.  In early April I should be smiling with a lot of teeth again -- LOL!

My hot stone massage was wonderful.  I have another one scheduled for next week.

I've lived in this townhouse for a little bit over a year now and haven't gotten window coverings yet.  I've been using cheap Walmart curtains on tension rods.  They served the purpose but they aren't very pretty.  But it was a dilemma because no matter what I put in this house, the cats feel like it is their job to search and destroy.

But several weeks ago I had a company come in and measure for plantation shutters.  They should be ready to be installed in another week or so and I am excited.  I think they are so cool.  And I think maybe the cats will not be able to figure out how to do damage.  At least I hope not -- these things are EXPENSIVE!  Once these are installed, this place should be pretty much finished except for a few small things.  I'll attach pictures whenever they are installed.

Yesterday I took Mia to Camp BowWow and signed her up for twice weekly training sessions.  Every Tuesday and Thursday I'll drop her off for the day and they will give her some play time as usual but then the trainer will work with her on certain issues.  Yesterday she worked on leash training and also how to keep Mia from jumping up on me or other people.   The trainer's name is Cheyanne.

I just can't say enough good things about Camp BowWow.  Cheyanne filmed part of the training session and gave me the video so I would know how to keep up the training at home.  And Mia really paid attention and behaved a little better at home than she had before.  Also, as usual, when I pick her up and bring her home she is mentally and physically exhausted and she sleeps/naps for two days.

Camp BowWow has seven play areas for the animals.  Three are outdoors, three are indoor areas and then there is one small area for the tiny breed dogs.  They spread the animals out according to size and temperament.  So when I check the WebCam I am never sure where Mia will be.  Usually she is in Indoor No. 3 with what they call the "small big dogs."  But sometimes they will pair up two dogs that seem to get along well.

Yesterday a woman had brought in her Chihuahua for the day and the Chihuahua was scared and nervous but seemed to gravitate to Mia.  So they put Mia and the Chihuahua in the toy area and they played together.  When I read the reviews for Camp BowWow some people complain when their dog is not in the playroom they expect but I kind of like the way they try to do what seems right for the pet at the time.  And every now and then -- especially sometimes on a weekend -- they are short staffed and they will alternate putting some dogs in their "cabins" for a while and then switch them out. That isn't the ideal situation, but I think it is what it is and sometimes that's the way it goes.  But all in all, this is a wonderful place with caring people.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Nothing happening...

Things are going along nicely.  I feel great and hardly ever cry any more.

Last night was March's grief support group meeting and we have a really good group.  Next Saturday a bunch of us are meeting for lunch in Louisville, Colorado (wherever that is).

Pikes Peak Harley returned Marshall's motorcycle and even though they raised the pipes, the pipes still rub the concrete just a tiny bit coming into the garage.  Frustrating.

Today was yet another dental visit.  I think I only have three visits left and then I should have all my upper and lower partials to fill all the empty spots.  Should have a better smile and hopefully I can get used to them without stuttering.  I will be so glad to have this little chapter over with.  And I am also so glad that I didn't need to get all my teeth pulled, just 6 of them.  LOL.

Next week is my quarterly visit with the cardiologist to check out the pacemaker.

For the past several months I've been casually looking at houses -- ranch style with no stairs!
The real estate agent I used when I bought my townhouse has me on his list and he sends me a listing whenever he thinks I might be interested, which is maybe one every two to three weeks.  Ranch style houses are not a big deal in Denver so not too many come up for sale.  I'm really not considering moving (way too much work), but if something really good should show up, you never know.

Yesterday he sent me a new listing and it turned out to be the house that Marshall and I had built in 2000 when we moved here.  How crazy is that?  And the owner is asking about $100,000 more than we got when we sold it.  It went on the market yesterday and I think it is under contract already.  Unbelievable.  It was fun looking at the pictures to see what changes were done.  It's still a really good-looking house.

I think I'm going to go to the recreation center tomorrow and take a Tai Chi class.  Not sure yet.  And Thursday I'm getting one of those hot stone massages.  I've been wanting to try that.


Monday, February 27, 2017

Pets

I think all three of my pets had a meeting to come up with ways to make today a challenge.  The first thing this morning while I was in the shower, I think they all conspired to turn over the litter box and scatter it everywhere (I had to blame it on all of them since I wasn't watching).  Then later in the day, Mia used my leg as a launching pad when she wanted to chase one of the cats and left a big long painful scratch; Okie threw up in the bed (which meant I had to strip the bed, while trying to keep Jerry and Mia from trying to eat it ... Eewwww) ... and then this evening when I made dinner (chicken and veggies) and it was sitting on the hot stove Okie jumped on the stove to start eating that food -- I have no idea how he didn't burn his feet; and Jerry ripped apart one of my plants and made a huge mess.  As I'm writing this, the day isn't over yet, so........

Today, in between yelling at my pets, I went to the Thornton Recreation Center and took a tour and got a membership.  They allow all age groups.  The first thing I'm going to do is sign up for their Tai Chi class.  They've also got a huge weight room, racquetball courts, a pool, an indoor running track and probably more.

After that I went and took a tour of the Senior Center and talked to them about their activities.  They obviously don't cater to all age groups. :) The lady at the information desk was going over all the activities with me and she said they offered a belly dancing class.  The lady standing behind me tapped me on the shoulder and said, "You really should take that class, it's fun."  I turned around and this woman was carrying an oxygen bottle and her husband was helping her with her walker.  She cracked up at herself and I got a good laugh!

Both facilities had great things to offer so I'm glad I finally went.

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Harley

Pikes Peak Harley called me yesterday to give me an update on the bike.  The riser has been installed, so I have high hopes for that extra inch and a half making the bike handle low areas.

They also said that the rear brakes don't work at all (wow...) so they will check all the brakes and fix them where necessary.

The oil was kind of like sludge after sitting for two years so they will drain the oil and put new oil in and new filters.  They will do all the other regular servicing stuff, too.  So as of today the total cost is $900 and that could still go up. (Yikes) I guess when you factor in the fact that no servicing has been done for two years this isn't too bad.  But I want to feel comfortable and safe riding this thing.

One of Marshall's last requests while he could still talk was that I take good care of the bike and that I ride it and continue to spread prostate cancer awareness.  He had made up some pamphlets that he used to keep on his bike and pass out concerning how men should take care of themselves and get tested for prostate cancer and he wanted me to continue that practice.  I told him I would try, so I sure do hope I can.

He also wanted me to continue to enter the bike in shows.  So far he has won every show the bike was in.  But I couldn't make that promise.  Entering in shows requires a lot of prep that I'm not comfortable with (draining the oil, draining the gas tank, putting the bike on a trailer and then manually pushing it off the trailer and then back on again).  I will not be able to handle that.  But if there are shows that are all outdoor and the bike can simply be ridden in, I will try to do that.

Another thing he really BADLY wanted to do himself but his health never cooperated was to ride with the Patriot Guard accompanying the body of a deceased veteran to his/her final resting place.  If the opportunity presents itself, I will try to make that happen with me riding the bike.  First I need to get comfortable riding a trike.  Baby steps.....

Thursday, February 23, 2017

This week

Yesterday I had to take the car to Toyota in Pueblo for its 15,000 mile checkup.  I like to go back down to the Toyota dealer in Pueblo, even though it's a long trip, because I really like them.  I tried to form a relationship with the Toyota up here in Denver and they treated me like a helpless female who couldn't understand anything they said.

So I dropped Mia off at Camp BowWow yesterday morning.  When I picked her up at 4:00, I took her out to the car and she immediately fell asleep.  When I got home, I fed her and then she went back to sleep and she is basically still sleeping.  She loves going to Camp BowWow and it exhausts her physically and mentally, but I'm a little concerned about how long she is napping and hope tomorrow she is a little perkier.

Today I went to the dentist for the millionth time.  I hope in the next month to six weeks I will be finished with that.

So I am close to finally bringing all of my health issues up to where they were four years ago and all I will need to do is maintain.  I wish I had listened to my own advice and had taken better care of myself when I was caring for Marshall.  I think I would have been in much better shape now.

Friday, February 17, 2017

All is calm

Everything is still uneventful.  No A-Fib episodes and pacemaker is ticking along perfectly.

Valentine's Day was sad but Monday was my grief support group and we all brought pictures of our loved ones and we told stories.  Very very cathartic.

Today I got a manicure, pedicure and massage.  Ahhhh, felt good.

Today I had Pike's Peak Harley Davidson come and pick up the motorcycle to do service.  The bike has been sitting in the garage for a year and is probably due for oil change, etc.  They are also going to install a riser apparatus that should raise the bike's tailpipes about an inch and a half which would mean I could (hopefully) get it across the curb at the end of my driveway without dragging and ruining those custom "gatling gun" tailpipes.  And then hopefully I'll be able to actually get it out and ride it.  Here's a picture of my "babies" waiting for the Harley guy!


One of the girls in my grief group mentioned on Monday that she has a Harley and that she belongs to a ladies riders group so I'm going to join that group this summer.

After the Harley guy left, I took Mia to Starbucks so that I could get a latte and she could get her Puppuccino.  (Starbucks will give you this treat for your animal at no cost -- it's a cup of whipped cream and Mia loves it!  When we pull into the Starbucks, she goes nuts with excitement...)