Sleepy Sunday

Pop-up showers. Did

Sunday laundry. Nothing else.

Dinner, left-overs.

A great day!

We had a great day. We took John's cousin Bob and Tina from here, and drove the scenic route over the back roads to Margaret's. Everybody got there uneventfully. The food, of course, was fabulous. Bobby fried fish - the best ever. Margaret got the rest done, homegrown tomatoes, vinegar slaw, cornbread, green beans, pinto beans, corn, pulled pork, the fried fish fillets, and banana pudding for dessert. We were all stuffed and so great to see everybody!

We came back on the interstate, with just a few sprinkles and no bad traffic. Those heading west had a hard time working their way through driving rain. It rained hard after we got home, with some wind gusts. Glad we're tucked in safe and sound. I'm sure that'll do us for the weekend.

Duplicate

We’ve now played duplicate several times, mostly sort of muddling along. We’ve played the most on Friday afternoons with the “99er” group - no one with more than 99 Master Points is allowed to play.

Last Friday, we felt we played poorly. The cards were bad, but mainly we just didn’t play well. And we came in next-to-last. Our goal for today was just to play better than we did last week.

At the end of the afternoon, we felt that we had bid and played our hands much more comfortably. When we got home (after having dinner with Tina) we checked the Bridge Club website to see how things went.

And we came in FIRST!!!!! Needless to say, we’re very pleased. Now we have something to live up to next week.

NNOOOOOO!!!

A&E has announced they are cancelling Longmire.   It does say in the article that the producers are shopping the series to other networks.  We can only hope.

A hard morning

I've "graduated" from my PT sessions. The therapists gave me a t-shirt and hugs, with the instructions for the home regimen for two months. I'm really amazed at what I'm able to do now. Definitely not 100%, maybe up to 75%, but ever so much better than before this last surgery. (I think I've said this before, but...)

The termite guy has come, and all is okay in that department. And the yard guy cut the grass. Nothing else was on our docket today, except for dinner with Tina and Missy.

Last night was a “not much sleep” night, so I’ll probably be in the bed early.

An unexciting Tuesday

I did my grocery run this morning, so that’s out of the way for another week. John seems to have fixed the sink problem, and we let it get good and dry before we put stuff back. And we will be putting in a new faucet.

There was nothing else on the docket for the rest of the day. Tina came by and stayed for dinner with us.

Monday, Monday

Mondays are really getting tough around here. Today was my next-to-last PT session. The therapist told me that I’ve nearly gotten to my maximum range of motion. After my final evaluation on Wednesday, she’s going to give me instructions for home exercises. She’s told me that if I do the exercises as instructed at home, I should reach my maximum recovery range in two months. So I’ll keep working, and we’ll see how it goes. At least I’m not hurting. So I’m considering the surgery and PT a success.

My cards were still pretty bad this afternoon. I had a few good hands, as did my partners, but nothing earthshaking.

Then, when I was stewing about what to fix for supper (turned out to be quesadillas), I noticed water on the rug in front of the sink. When I opened the cabinet, there was standing water under there. Well, @##$$%%%$##! After supper, John took everything out from under the sink. The whole flooring was wet, and obviously had been for a while. The only he could find was a small leak around the swivel part on the pull-out faucet. He tightened it, and we’re waiting to see if that works. And now, the stuff is still out from under the sink and we’ve got a fan blowing to help dry it out. Plus, I think I’ll buy a new faucet and we’ll get a plumber to install it. Sighhhhhhhh.

Sunday haiku

Sunday is laundry.

Sometimes also dinner with

Bob at Bonefish Grill.

Amazing times we live in

Click here to watch an amazing video tour of the International Space Station.  We've watched film and seen photos and even watched it track across the skies.  But this 25-minute tour is an incredible look into life on the ISS.  It's long, but take the time to watch it.  I can almost guarantee you'll pass it on.

A full day

It was a full day today. Most of the coffee folks weren't at swim class today, so we skipped that. But I had a massage in midmorning.

We went to duplicate this afternoon. This is the group with 99 or fewer master points. The cards were terrible - for everybody! However, I can't remember when John and I have played so poorly - we're better than we played today. I guess we'll find out tomorrow where we placed, but I won't be surprised if we were last (out of 7 tables). Oh, well... we persevere.

We were near Tina's where we play, so when we finished near dinnertime, we went by her place. After visiting for a bit, she took us to dinner at a nearby "Asian fusion" place. Really good food, and we brought some home for lunches. Now that was it for the night - to dream of better cards and better play.

Thursday Thirteen

1. Another day in the 90s.
2. But no thunderstorms - just humidity.
3. Mani/Pedi, with medium red.
4. Designs on the thumbnails.
5. John went to allergist.
6. Tina came over for support, advice, talking, and listening.
7. Very good pizza last night from Marco’s.
8. New chain in the area.
9. Leftover pizza for lunch - one of my favorites.
10. Kielbasa for supper.
11. Tina brought our dessert - strawberry cake.
12. We watched a WNBA game on TV.
13. Not much else on TV tonight.

Roaches or piss-ants?

There’s an old saying in my family, “If it ain’t roaches, it’s piss-ants”. I wonder which it is this time.

I had my semi-annual eye check this morning. Mostly things are good, but he wants to start treatment for early stage glaucoma. I'm to start with one drop once a day in each eye - planning to stop the glaucoma before it becomes serious. He gave me some a sample to try for a couple of weeks before he gives me a prescription. That leads me to believe it might be pretty expensive - I didn't ask at this point. But I'll give it a try. As we all do, I hate having my eyes dilated, and it seemed to take longer than usual for them to return to "normal".
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Has the weather gone even more nuts? Torrential rains and flash floods in Phoenix. Earthquakes in California. Rumbling volcanoes in Iceland.

Miscellany on Monday

We had lots of thunder and lightning this morning, so I turned off the alarm and went back to sleep. It was nice. I had a good PT session - only three left to go. I had a few good cards this afternoon, but most had 5-8 points. John was first last week. We went to dinner at our favorite Chinese place with a friend. The three of us got only two entrees, and still took enough home for her lunch tomorrow and our dinner again.
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The folks at PT loaned me a copy of Frozen. We'd not seen it before. It is lovely movie. We didn't like it as much as we liked Up and Despicable Me, but it was good.
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We're due to have high heat (mid 90s) and humidity for the rest of the week, with heat indexes (indices?) of over 100. Welcome to August in Chattanooga

Sunday Stealing

From "A Place Of My Own" by L'Empress

Would you ever cheat on someone if they cheated on you?
Nope. Retaliation doesn’t accomplish anything except making you look bad.
Would you ever consider becoming a teacher?
Not in the classroom. I can teach one-on-one, but not in a group.
Would you ever give a hitch-hiker a ride somewhere?
Possibly.
Would you ever try fasting for a whole week?
No. That can’t be healthy.
Would you ever try to quit one of your addictions?
Of course.
Would you ever dye your hair purple?
Yes. I probably wouldn’t even need much of an excuse.
Would you ever spend $100 for the best tasting hamburger in the world?
Definitely not. No hamburger is worth that much.
Would you rather chew gum off the ground or kill a squirrel?
Dumb choices. I’d probably shoot at a squirrel (and miss).
Would you rather play Monopoly or Operation?
I don’t know what “Operation” is. I was never much of a Monopoly player, but I’d have to choose that one.
Would you rather eat chocolate or fruity candies?
Chocolate
Would you rather listen to one CD forever or become deaf?
It depends on the CD. I’d take the CD, if I could choose it.
Would you rather be deaf or blind?
Deaf.
Would you rather text or talk on the phone?
Talk on the phone.
Would you rather spend a day with Lady Gaga or Miley Cyrus?
First choice would be neither, but I guess Lady Gaga.
Would you rather learn to play piano or guitar?
I’ve learned both, but definitely no talent. I’m better at playing a CD player.
Would you rather have a stomach-ache or headache?
How about neither. I’ll take a headache, though.
Would you rather be overly interesting or overly dull?
I guess that would depend on those around me. I’ll take interesting.
Would you rather be too loud or too quiet?
Too quiet. I hate “too loud”.

Robin Williams' films

We watched The Birdcage (1996), the remake of La Cage Aux Folles, with Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, and Gene Hackman. What a terrific, funny movie! We’ll be watching Good Morning, Vietnam, and Good Will Hunting in the next few days.

Summer lazies

Beautiful day, low

Humidity. I had a

Slug day. How lazy!

Learning about my home town

We went to a program at the Chattanooga History Center this evening. The director, Dr. Black, covered a huge range of material about our city, mainly covering the time from immediately after the Civil War to about the mid 1970s. These are 10 things I learned about Chattanooga tonight:

1. Chattanooga was pivotal during the Civil war because of its being a railroad hub.

2. Many Union officers stationed here during the war returned afterwards and became part of the growth and prosperity of the city.
3. During the last half of the 19^th Century, the black population ranged between 40-50% of the inhabitants of the city.

4. There was a vibrant black commercial presence in several areas of the city.

5. There were black policemen, black firemen, black aldermen, all in the years immediately following the end of the war.
6. Jim Crow laws started to be passed during that time, and by the earely 20^th Century, segregation was in full sway, and would remain so until the mid20^th Century. 

7. In 1950, Chattanooga was the 9^th most industrialized city in the US, with the 2^nd most diversified industries (second only to Brooklyn).

8. Adolph Ochs moved to Chattanooga and bought the struggling newspaper, the Chattanooga Times. He made it into on of the first papers in the country that printed news without a specific bias. (He later went on to buy another struggling newspaper - the New York Times).

9. A lot of Chattanooga’s 20^th Century prosperity began when George Thomas convinced Asa Candler (the inventor of Coca Cola in Atlanta) to give him the world-wide right to bottle Coke. He and his partner were able to develop the process by using the crimped metal bottle cap that is still being used today. The zillions of dollars made from this early investment went on to invest in a lot of new industry starting up in Chattanooga.

10. Another of the big entrepreneurs in early Chattanooga was Z. Patten, who made his fortune selling patent medicines (mainly a nostrum called “Wine of Cardui”). This company is now Chattem, which makes many of the OTC products we use today.

It’s a fascinating story. The newly expanded History Center will finally be open in Spring 2015. Come visit.

Robin Williams (1951-2014)

Robin Williams (1951-2014)

How sad. And what a loss for not just his family and friends, but for all of us.

Reference has been made to his depression and his substance abuse problems leading to his probale suicide. At the same time, they’re talking about his manic comedy turns. But I’ve not heard anybody put the two together as manic-depression or bipolar disorder.

My sister was diagnosed as manic-depressive about the time a name was put on this disorder. (She died nearly 20 years ago from other causes.) When I read about it, it was like they were writing about my sister - with the mood swings, the high highs and the corresponding lows. She attempted suicide at least once (that I know of). And this sounds so much like Robin Williams.

We can only rejoice in the wonderful gifts he gave us - Mrs. Doubtfire, Hook, and (my personal favorite) The Bird Cage, etc. And feel so sorry for the pain he was obviously enduring.

RIP

Sunday afternoon

Scattered showers. Met

Bob at Bonefish Grill. Tuna

Me, and mussels John.

Yum!

Sunday Stealing

From Pinterest

1. Outside my window…
Birds at the feeders, trees.
2. I am thankful…
That this third surgery has worked so well
3. In the kitchen…
is where I like for somebody else to be cooking
4. I am wearing…
soft clothes
5. I am creating…
a pair of socks, and stuff to go on the computer
6. I am going…
to dinner at Bonefish Grill Sunday night
7. I am reading…
Wanted: A Leopold Blake thriller
8. I am learning…
Exercises to strengthen the muscles in my shoulder
9. I am pondering…
Not much of anything right now
10. A favorite quote…
“If we weren’t all crazy, we would go insane”, Jimmy Buffett
11. One of my favorite things…
is being at the beach
12. A few plans for the rest of the week…
physical therapy, aquatic exercises, bridge, etc.
13. A peek into my day…
not very exciting

Rainy Friday

I saw the orthopod this morning. He says that I'm doing well, and to keep up with the exercises. He prescribed another three weeks of PT, so I'm good to go with that. I asked him about osteopenia/osteoporosis and some of the medications involved. I had called and gotten my numbers from the Dexa scan to show him. He said that he didn't think it was enough to warrant the medication at this point. He recommended that I try to start doing some weight-bearing exercises (you KNOW how I love that idea), and wait until after the next scan to make any decisions. That's pretty much what I expected him to say, and what I had been thinking, too. I go back to see him again in a couple of months.

We headed out to play duplicate this afternoon. We're pretty much decided we don't want to get so serious about this game that we get into using nothing but artificial bids, etc. So, for now anyway, I think we're going to stay with the less-advanced group on bi-monthly Friday afternoons. And this would be a wonderful idea, if only we could get the timing correct. Unfortunately, we thought 1:30, and it started at 1:00. So no bridge for us this afternoon. Better luck next time, I hope.

I don’t even want to discuss election results. I know we live in a red state, but this is ridiculous - even for here.

Complaint department

I had a massage, had the car washed (inside and out - not that it needed it, or anything), and went to the bank. We went to dinner at O'Charley's with Renna and Tina, but that was it for the day.

In the complaint department, we had terrible service at Panera's yesterday morning. Two of our group waited for several minutes to place their orders, with no one at the registers. One gal got hazelnut coffee and said it was full of grounds. I went back for seconds of dark roast. The urn was empty, and when I told the shift manager, he told me they didn't have any - there was no dark roast coffee in the building to make more. And when I got regular, it tasted like hazelnut, and had grounds in it.

John posted a complaint letter on the Panera web site and got back a quick e-mail apology from the head office. Their story was that the particular store is a franchise, but that they'd pass the complaint on. This morning, there was an apology letter from the local manager. It'll be interesting tomorrow to see if anything happens.

PT Forecast

I had my last scheduled PT session today. We talked about future sessions, and both agreed that, since I was showing improvement on each visit, it was worthwhile to have more sessions. She'll put that in her report to the doc, and I'll ask him to prescribe another month's worth of treatments. They've already scheduled me for twice a week for the rest of August. I've got almost a full range of passive motion, it's just a matter of strengthening the muscles so I can get more active range. So, it's more work - at therapy and at home.

Tuesday news

We got an upgrade to our cable system today.  The tech guy was here before his scheduled time (!), with the new box, hook-up, buttons pushed, new book, and instructions on how the recording feature works.  We tried it tonight, and will be checking it out tomorrow - just to see if we can actually work it.
We're not really going into the tech area kicking and screaming, but we're definitely not on the fast track.
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I have my last scheduled PT session tomorrow, and the next doctor's followup appointment on Friday. I'm going to ask the therapist what my prognosis is; whether she thinks I can increase strength and range of motion on my own at home; or whether she thinks I could benefit from another series of sessions.  Then the doc and I will talk about it.

Tough Mondays

Mondays are tough.


The swimming class is always a good workout, and I am trying to push.  The next-to-last scheduled PT session was this morning.  The therapist stretched the shoulder a good bit, and worked me hard.  Several new exercises were added, too.


Bridge games this afternoon were mentally tough.  I had bad cards, but there was still a lot of defense involved.  It's fun, though, and we enjoy the challenges.


Having said all that, it makes for a long day.  And I'm ready for some pain meds and some good sleep.

Quiet weekend

It was a pretty quiet weekend.

The only thing on Saturday was a terrific thunderstorm with lots of thunder and lightning. It was relatively brief, although it dropped an inch of rain in our area.

More excitement today. Let’s see - first I did the laundry. That’s always a thrill a minute. But really, we had a short visit from Jesse and his lady friend. They’ve been at Margaret’s for the weekend, and brought us more tomatoes, okra, and squash. A special treat is some green tomatoes, so I can make some fried green tomatoes for me. We finished off the day with dinner at Sticky Fingers with John’s cousin, Bob.

And so, we start another week.

Welcome!

Welcome, August!
It would be lovely if you would be as even and cool as July was this summer.