36 replies to this topic

[Dee]

There is no one sitting in the beach chair because it is either too hot, or there is not enough water.

It's August already. We've been through Christmas in July sales, and we are already in back to school sales mode. The colts at the horse farm down the road are all growing like weeds, local fairs have begun, and the harvesting has started. Lupines and lilies have gone by, and the sunflowers and daisies are everywhere. All sure signs that August is here. My July calendar had a nice picture of an apple harvest, but I couldn't figure that out. They must harvest apples in June somewhere??? I liked the July picture. It came out of Walton's Mountain, for sure. It was a very nice picture of a grandfather fishing with his young grandson. August has a nice picture of tractors??, and I'm thinking I am going back to my Norman Rockwell calendars next
time.

We haven't had scorching heat here, we have just had a lot of humidity. One or two days a week you can breathe easily, and the rest are a toss up. I really don't like having to keep the windows closed so much, but I'm grateful for the ac. The grandchildren continue to make use of the pool every day, but I know it won't be too long before they are back in school and they will be busy.

A farm market opened up across the street, so it has been a nice convenience for me to stop by on my way home. We have had a lot of berries and salads this summer, and we had beet greens just the other night. I haven't had fresh tomatoes yet, but I can't wait.

We had a beautiful, fairly large moose stop in the middle of the road and pose for us last weekend. I had my camera, but by the time I got it out, the sound of a car coming the other way scared him off into the woods. Now I not only take my camera with me, I have it out and ready.

Rocky had a bad time with a bacterial infection last week, but he is on antibiotics now, and doing much better. He is taking 2000mg. a day for ten days, and I hope it clears completely out of his system. He told me he didn't realize how bad he felt until he started feeling better again. I have had miserable breathing for the last few weeks, but yesterday and today I'm feeling energetic and breathing much easier. Go figure.

Mom continues to do VERY well at BINGO, but her winning streak was broken with a trip to the casino yesterday. She went with a few of her friends, and she lost $50.00, so she is not too happy about that. I would be surprised if anyone saw her in a casino the rest of the summer now.

Glad to hear that most of you are doing pretty well. Tim, I'm very happy that you seem to be out of the woods. I hope Dew is doing well too. Claire, I hope you will be free of that cumbersome boot pretty soon. You must have forgotten by now what's it's like to not have it on.

We are leaving Friday for a week on the Maine coast. This will be our first full week off in years, and we're pretty excited about it.
Hopefully a trip to Boston next month, and that will probably do it for this summer. Ken let me know when you are planing on being in Boston, and we'll see if we can get together.

Peg, I know you have been very busy, but I have to say that it seems to agree with you. Every time I hear from you, you always seem to be feeling pretty good about yourself for all you are accomplishing. You go girl.

Darrell, I'm pleased that you finally have been able to taper down the prednisone, You seem to be doing much better, and I hope you continue to do well. It must be all those fresh vegetables you have been eating.

Take care everyone. I'm wishing you all feel good days, and lots of easy breathing.

Dee

[Ken-FL]

Dee,
I loved your newsy post and hope Rocky gets things cleared up right away. Enjoy the coast, we will be in Bar Harbor/Portland and points in between for a couple of days in Mid September ourselves.
We expect to be in Boston late on Wednesday the 19th of Sept. and be there the 20th and the morning of the 21st so our time will be short there and will not include the weekend but it would be very cool to meet up if possible.

Enjoy your August and get me a good picture of a Moose, not too many chances to see Moose in Florida!

Ken

[Dee]

Vacation is over, and I feel like I did when summer vacation was over and I had to go back to school. I guess the first week back wasn't really so bad. I usually had some new clothes, school supplies and a new lunch box. I had book bag too, but nowadays it would be better known as a backpack. Anyway, I'm back and have been playing catch up all week.

My computer got a virus before I left on vacation, but I was lucky enough that little business information was lost, and though I had to redo some of it, I did manage to get it done in time to get out my quarterly reports on time. I did lose my list of favorites, but I had so many it was ridiculous, so having to start a new list was probably a good thing. So, needless to say, by the time we left on vacation, I was more than ready. I won't go on and on with details, but on our way Friday night we got caught in torrential rain, a flash flood and a downed power line. We were beginning to think that someone was trying to tell us something. We eventually arrived in Boothbay safe and sound, and we had a wonderful week.

Our son is getting married Saturday, so there's more than enough excitement around here. They are so happy, that it just makes you smile when you see them, though Misty has told me that Chris has been a groomzilla on a couple of occasions. So now we will have nine grandchildren instead of six. Misty says they don't bother her a bit. She is a teacher, and she finds six at home easier than a classroom full of kids. God bless her. She told me she just smiles and nods a lot.

The humidity here is just relentless, and not unlike a lot of you, it has been hard to breathe, and my stamina is not as good as it should be. I haven't been able to do as much outside as I would like, and after a while of not being able to open up the windows, I begin to feel trapped. Oh, how I have missed the DRY fresh air.
By Saturday they are saying it will be drier, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Well it's time to head home. I hope you are all doing better today and are finding relief from the humidity and heat. Take care friends. and have a happy week.

[Darrell]

Dee,
Welcome back from your vacation I hope it was everything you wanted. Boothbay Harbor seems to be the picturesque post card version of Maine. I looked on the internet and it is an impressive looking place. Hope you had some good seafood too. When I visited Maine I ate alot of lobster and clams but here it is so expensive and some places don't do the best job of preparing it. It really doesn't seem like summer should be ending this soon but fortunately we get quite a bit more summer than Notherners like you and Larry.
Darrell

[Ken-FL]

Dee,
Welcome home, along with Darrell i hope you had a great vacation and are able to ease back into everyday life. The wedding sounds exciting, hope it goes well. It has been verry quiet here at BBLW lately. I think the summer doldrums and heat are getting to everyone. I hope your weather turns more seasonal for you soon. For us we have lot's more heat to bear and also need to keep an eye on the so far mild tropics for storms.
Like everyone we are fighting the heat and humidity and hoping that the Northeast and Mid Atlantic cool down a bit before our vacation in that direction next month.

Take care everyone and if you haven't checked into the site lately let us know how you are doing!

Ken

[Tim]

It sure is nice to have you back Dee. I know we all need a break from time to time but you
can sure bet that your missed when we don't see you here for a couple of days. It sounds like
you and Rocky had a good old hair raising experience with the Flash flooding you ran into
on your way there. I'm glad you made it there OK and enjoyed the rest of your stay.
Boothbay Harbor looks like the kind of place Dew and I would enjoy visiting.

It was very hot yesterday with temps in the mid 90's and Thunder storms with rain moved
into the area overnight, bringing a cold front right behind it. The temps are back down into
the 80's today. The next few days are suppose to be very nice with temps in the 70's through
the weekend.

Dew and I will be out of town tomorrow for an appointment with my Pulmo. I don't expect anything
new but you never know what he might have come up with since our last visit.

I hope you all have a good day,

Tim

[peg]

Dee, welcome back. Hope you enjoy all the excitement heading your way.

Tim, hope your pulmo appt. goes well.

Ken, when you start seeing Moose in Florida we will know pigs really fly!

When this crazy weather calms down we will all forget about it, but until that happens it sure has been wreaking havoc with me.
Crazy shortness of breath and stamina (like you all are mentioning) and trying to get a good balance with this prednisone and
the prevacid..my stomach feels torn up half the time and my doc doesn't think my adrenals are kicking in like they should, so we are
playing with different dosages of the pred..but in the meantime I just feel dragged out and crummy.

Still having major computer issues, also. Trying to straighten out what the tech messed up months ago, and now things don't open
properly in the new computer when I transferred them over to Win 7 and Micro 10. I have spent so many hours on the phone with tech
support it's unbelievable.

I am really going nutty plus not feeling well. I had to shut down and re-open my computer and hit "edit" just to be able to finish this post.
Now that is just a nuisance!

So until I get on top of this mess, I won't be showing up much. I am just too old for this techie world!!

Have a great weekend, everyone. Good breathing.

Peg

[Neva]

I have been doing pretty well the last couple of weeks. The temps here are lower than what they have been and that is wonderful as far as I'm concerned. Humidity is getting better. It will be in the mid to upper 70's this weekend and I think that is perfect. Maybe Jeff and I can sneak off for a ride on the hill. I don't dare plan it because it seems something always comes up if I make plans.
I had my appointment with the doctor that the retirement board sent me to. He readily admitted that he didn't know much about Alpha-1 so I got to educate him. He was an older doctor and I respect him for telling me. Alpha-1 aside, it's really my lung function that tells the tale. I'm pretty sure he is going to recommend my disability. I won't count on it until I see it in writing though, so I wait.
My youngest daughter was in an accident. Her car was hit in the rear. It was a total loss but she is fine. She just had the usual soreness but it went away after a couple of days. She certainly can't afford a car payment so I sold her mine and I bought a new one. I really like it. It's a Toyota Corolla. First new car I've had in years. Feels pretty good. It has a sunroof and my granddaughter loves it. She said now we can be in a parade! LOL The really good thing about the car is all my oil changes and tire rotations are free for 2 years. Also my brother-in-law works for Toyota and I got the employee discount. Can't beat that deal.
Dee glad you had a good time in Maine. We haven't been on a real vacation for a couple of years. I'll have to work on that.
Pegs sorry you are having problems with the prednisone. I hate having to take it and I'm sure everybody here does too. I hope you get to feeling better soon.
Tim and Darrell I hope you guys are feeling better.
Take Extra Good Care,
Neva

[Ken-FL]

Peg and Neva,
Great to hear from you two! Peg, I am so sorry everything seems to be working against you at the moment, technology is great when it works properly and is a royal pain in the butt when it doesn't, hope you get it and the pred worked out soon. Neva we are all pulling for you in terms of approval on the disability stuff. Glad the weather is moderating for you. We will be heading out next month for our first vacation in three years so go for it!!!!

Take care and good breathing!

Ken

[Darrell]

It has been an absolutely beautiful day here today and the wife and I enjoyed working outside all morning then we got cleaned up, I took her out to lunch at a nice Thai restaurant, then did shopping at several places. I was happy to get home, unload the car and finally kick back for a bit. Tomorrow we expect more heat and rainy weather by afternoon so we got a lot done outdoors yesterday and today. I guess tomorrow will be another gym day.

Neva good luck on the disability decision, I often wish I had opted to do that a few years before I retired or at least claimed disability when I retired but I didn't know what my rights were and my employer wasn't helpful in any way. I hope you enjoy your new car but that is a hard way to get one.

Peg it sounds like you are going thru something similar to me with the pred issues. My stomach problem was that I completely lost my appetite and I had to force myself to eat. I seem to have worked that out lately and I'm continuing to eat yogurt (probiotic) daily. I had some bloodwork last week to see if my adrenals are working but I haven't gotten results yet.

Everybody take care.

Darrell

[Neva]

Darrell prednisone affects me differently every time I take it. I often get anorexic like symptoms. I have no appetite at all and food is not at all appealing to me. This winter, after I was on it for a while, I would cry for no good reason. I wasn't depressed, just overly emotional. I do always seem to get the closets and drawers cleaned out though. I guess there is a good side to most everything.

[Ken-FL]

Very proud of our daughter today who is out on the streets of Detroit walking her 1st of three 20 mile days in the Komen Breast Cancer 3 day Walk for a cure in honor of her mother, a five year survivor.
We are with her in spirit each step of the way and unbeknown to her Vickie is flying up on Sunday morning to meet her and thank her at the finish line of the walk. Pray for her strength and for good weather.

Thanks,

Ken

[peg]

That is wonderful! What a warm, loving and tearful finish line reunion that will be. Awesome.
Thanks for sharing that, Ken.

Peg

[Darrell]

Ken congrats to your daughter for her effort and your wife for her success as a survivor. I can't say that I understand the 3 day walk idea but I have done a number of Komen 5k walks as part of their hugely successful program of awareness and fundraising.
Darrell

[Ken-FL]

Darrell,
The 3 day walk consists of 20 miles each day for 3 days. The walkers are fed lunches at rest stops and dinners prior to a camp out at night in two person tents usually in a city park. They have a huge kickoff on Friday Morning and a big celebration early Sunday evening as they finish the walk. Each participant is required to raise a minimum of $2700 for the cause. Our daughter raised $3000 and she has a work partner walking with her as a two person team who also raised almost $3000. It is definately a committment.