GOOD NEWS HIPS AND REDBIRDS

Wednesday Nancy had her six weeks checkup a week late and her hip replacement surgeon said she can now bend 90 degrees and since then she has been picking things up off the floor and feeling good. He wrote a prescription for physical therapy. She talked me into getting a membership in the Fitness center and while she had her first meeting with the therapist I tried out several machines to work on my upper arm and abdomen. Nancy reports that she is feeling a lot better after doing the exercises since then.

We came back to Halsell Hill for this Thanksgiving week and I had been feeling bad that all of my song birds in the back yard were gone. I have always had cardinals since I have been here and the last month they have been gone but this morning while we were eating breakfast I saw one young cardinal. There are also a few chickadees and tit mouse but they have quit coming to the feeders on the house eves. I wonder if a blue darter has been hanging around and killing them. There are a few feathers in the yard.

We had a good Sunday School this morning with visitors from California, Diana Miller's parents, and a new visitor who it turns out is a new Cottonwood resident. She and her husband retired about six weeks ago from the USAF in San Antonio and are building a home on a place they bought four years ago. We are growing a new community of newcomers who have followed that pattern. Seems like half of our church members have come in the last five years in the same way. Retired people coming both from the cities and from careers in West Texas and New Mexico.

We looked at the first 9 chapters of 2 Chronicles that describe the 40 years of Solomon's reign. He asked for wisdom and knowledge and was given that plus enormous wealth. He built the Temple of the name of the Lord and also built a huge palace for himself and his wife who was the Pharoah's daughter. We will learn how his son messed up next week.

Nancy is decorating the house for Christmas including the Christmas tree I bought at the Lord's Acre. Lydia helped me bring the heavy metal core tree in and set it up. She replaced the limbs that had been pulled out taking it through the doors of the church and my front door. We have brought in decorations from the garage and from her house. We are preparing for having the SS class come for the annual Christmas party Dec. 7. Nancy has prepared a menu for all of the food and when the class members asked what they could bring she said desserts. I need to send the directions for getting here.

CATCHING UP

Nancy is healing rapidly and decided to come to Halsell Hill for this weekend. We came home Thursday afternoon and stopped to eat lunch at New York Hill where we first met eleven months ago. Friday we made a trip to Abilene to restock my fridge. We ate lunch at Cypress Street restaurant and then visited Texas Star where I bought Elmer Kelton's last book. I had a recall notice on my Avalon in the mail. I called to schedule a repair but their computer was not working and was promised that they would call me, but haven't heard from them.

Sunday I taught Sunday School where we read the Chronicles version of David bringing the ark to Jerusalem and his wife watching him dancing in front of the parade and didn't approve. Then we read about Satan leading David to ask for a census that was abhorrent to God. And the punishment was pretty bad. We are moving right along in our study. I also had to substitute as Worship Leader and helped serve communion.

I have been disappointed with my wildlife. I think while I spent all week helping Nancy my song birds decided I wasn't taking care of them. Although there was plenty of food, there was no water in the bird baths. I have always had lots of cardinals in the back yard until now and there are none. Today we saw a few chickadees, tit mouse and a goldfinch. Maybe they will come back but they aren't eating the bird feed in the feeders like they have for years. The deer are not coming in. I blame that on the hunting ranches on both sides of me providing a lot more feed although I have fed all year long. We did see a doe cross the road near the Halsell House Sunday morning when we went to church. But they haven't come up to the house like they used to. I have seen no turkeys and no swallows. The hummingbirds are gone and I have taken down their feeders.

This morning I went to the Library board meeting. Tomorrow I will get back to my job as president of Kiwanis and then we will go back to Nancy's.

CATCHING UP

I got an email wondering whet happened to my blogging and didn't realize I hadn't posted since Oct. 9. I have posted a report on the Rodenberger tombstone to Lou's blog and posted photos on that blog today to show the tombstone in place. I also sent copies of the photos to people at TWU to let them know that she was recognized as a regent and had a TWU plaque in place. Her father's stone has a Methodist circuit rider plaque and we thought Lou should have a plaque also.

I want to thank Sue for being there doing the installation because I was in Granbury taking care of Nancy last week. Kathy and Keith came in this weekend and while Keith was sharpening the blades on the Deere mower, Kathy and I went to look at the tombstone. I will also post a photo here.

Nancy is recovering well from her hip surgery. The doctor keeps her on coumadin for four weeks to insure that blood clots don't form. She will be through with that this week. She will be able to ride in the car soon and we will get back to Halsell Hill soon and I can get back to Kiwanis. I have been home every weekend because Nancy's children take care of her and have taught SS except for the surgery weekend when I ended up in the hospital and had my colonoscopy on Sunday Oct. 3. I am healing from my fall and pulling the ligament in the my left leg.

WALKING WEEKEND

I left Nancy with her granddaughter this weekend and came home to 10 days of mail and bills. Took me a while to sort through all the stuff. I went upstairs and worked on paying bills. I got the plumber to come install the new kitchen faucet and instant hot water dispenser. I used it for my tea this morning. I ran to town just before 5 to cash my LW check and pay some bills. I saw the rotating barber pole and stopped to get my hair and beard trimmed before Ray went home. It was one of the first times I have stopped when there was no body else in the shop. Ray is having a tough time since his wife died and said he is having a problem eating trash food all the time.

Kathy and Val came last night. Val got on my computer and mapped out a four mile run up FM 2228 to practice for the marathon she is working on. We visited and turned on the attic fan to cool the house down. This morning Val took off running and Kathy followed and walked back with her. I walked over 2 miles up past Spring Mesa gate. I got back to the house just before our visitor from TWU who is working on Lou's paper for her research project. We had lunch together and after a nap Kathy and Val went with me to the Cross Plains community Cancer Walk. I walked with the American Legion group wearing my vest and cap for the first time. We bought memorials to Lou and came home so I could work on my SS lesson for tomorrow. We did watch the first half of the A&M Arkansas game before we went to town.

STUMBLEBUM

Tuesday I went to Walmart to buy some Zicam for the cold I caught plus some groceries. I had a couple of bags in my hand and was walking too fast, didn't see the sidewalk step-off and fell flat on my face. My felt hat helped cushion the blow but my face hit the pavement so that my glasses cut my nose and my sunglasses hit the pavement and popped one of the lens out. Several people came over to help me up and told me my nose was bleeding. I felt like a dummy, got up and got to the car where I looked at my nose in the mirror and there was a slight cut. I used a tissue to clean the little blood and drove back to the house. There Vicky used her football trainer skills to clean up the blood, put a small bandage on my eye, bandaged my knee that wasn't bleeding but was scraped.

This morning in the beautiful weather I walked for 30 minutes up and down the road to the highway. I counted my steps to calculate the distance. Using my military pace of 5 feet every time my right foot hit, I counted 132 so I can calculate the distance. I can walk to the road and back in 5 minutes. I walked again tonight before supper for about 20 minutes. Then being a true stumblebum I tried to help close the recliner Nancy was using and used my left leg that cramped like the Devil. Vicky got me a couple of Alleves and it was all right after a supper of sweet and sour pork that Vicky made. Nancy directed me to make a lemon pudding with fruit salad to put over the cake that Yvonne brought yesterday and was beginning to dry out.

I am sure that a good night's sleep will make everything well. The Zicam is working for removing the cold symptoms. I should be healthy for going home for the weekend so I can teach SS.

ONE TO GO

I had the colonoscopy this morning and finally got released from the hospital even though one doctor wanted to keep me because of my creatin score. I explained to her that I have had that number for 12 years but she insisted I talk to my family doctor and then released me after 6. Nancy missed her time to be released and will come home tomorrow. She is under the prayer quilt that the Methodist church gave her several weeks ago and the prayers have been answered. She sent it down for me to use before I went for the colonoscopy and it worked for me. Prayers are amazing!

TWO IN HOSPITAL

I came to Granbury to be with Nancy through her hip joint replacement surgery. She is doing great. Today she walked again on her new leg and then got a good day's sleep after they kept waking her last night.

What we never expected was for me to go down to the ER and am now in a room one floor down from Nancy. Yesterday I woke up early and when I took my morning sit on the pot I found blood in the stool. I ate breakfast, washed dishes and took my computer to the hospital to stay with Nancy. Her son John came in. When Nancy's lunch came she sent us to the cafeteria to eat lunch. After lunch I again went to the pot and passed a lot of blood and what looked like clots. I considered driving to Abilene to my doctor and hospital but Nancy and John convinced me that I would be better off going to the ER here and checking myself in. After a lot of conversation with the doctors about my situation I came to the conclusion that my normal routine of straining to have a BM may have ruptured a little spot. They suggested that I needed a colostomy that I had told my doctor just Monday a week ago during my annual checkup I wouldn't have until I saw blood in my stool. I had never had any before. Now that I have seen some I have agreed to one because they can schedule it tomorrow and I can go back with Nancy to her house and help take care of her starting next week. Her daughter Vicky had planned to work from Granbury next week to be with her mother during the first worse week of healing. She has offered to help get my car back to Granbury and use her mother's van to get her home. She will go home either tomorrow or Monday. I am guessing she and I both will go home tomorrow.

Today John brought Nancy down to my room in a wheelchair to see me. Then this afternoon Vicky brought me some causual clothes to replace the open back hospital gown and I got to go up to Nancy's room and visit her. The hospital required that I ride in a wheel chair but I went. I walked from the door of the room.

Right now I am taking the required two liters of MoviPrep that is moving my system to prep it for the colonoscopy tomorrow. And I am chapped!