Sunday, November 20, 2016

A Great Thanksgiving

DeBary, FL.

73 deg. mostly cloudy, NE wind @ 9 mph.

Forecast = This afternoon = Mainly cloudy. Lows overnight in the mid 50s.


I hope all of you had a happy Thanksgiving, I know Jim and Linda did. :-) Thursday morning they headed over to Marv and Inez's, (Lindsey's Parents),  house up in DeLand. It's only about 20 to 30 minutes to get there, (depending on traffic), so they left here about 10:30.

As usual, Inez had a great dinner with all the "fixin's". That means turkey, dressing, vegetables, cranberries, mashed potatoes, gravy, and lots of deserts. And, Laura's husband, Lindsey brought a big ham to supplement the turkey!!!!

Of Course Marv and Inez were there, Laura and Lindsey, Ashley and Cris, Anna, and 2 of Lindsey's brothers and their families. Again, it was a full house, but everyone had plenty to eat and a very good time, visiting. Laura had to work at the hospital Thanksgiving night, so she left soon after the meal to get some sleep before going to work and Jim and Linda stayed until around 2:30.  

Both Jim and Linda were still "stuffed" when they returned here to the house, so they just had ham sandwiches for their evening meal, (thanks to Inez for sending some of the leftover ham home with them), and then just watched TV for the rest of the evening.

I've said this before, but I want to say it again. Jim and Linda really appreciate Marv and Inez including them with their family celebration. It really means a lot and they both want to thank Marv and Inez for their generous hospitality.

Don't really have much else to report. Mostly just day to day living.

Again, I hope all of you had a very nice Thanksgiving.

Did you know that Abraham Lincoln issued a  "Thanksgiving Proclamation" on third October 1863 and officially set aside the last Thursday of November as the national day for Thanksgiving? Whereas earlier the presidents used to make an annual proclamation to specify the day when Thanksgiving was to be held.


Woof!!!

Another Good Doctor's Report and Getting Ready For Thanksgiving

DeBary, FL.

46 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Sunny. High 67F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph.

Last Tuesday, both Jim and Linda had appointments with Dr. Saferali , their Chemo Dr, and both of them had good reports. In fact the Dr. was very pleased with Jim's Pet Scan results and both Jim and Linda's blood tests. :-)  She wants to see Jim again in February and then, both Jim and Linda again in April.

Not much else has been happening around here since I last posted. Jim and Linda have gone shopping for Christmas presents and groceries and, they've also gone to Lowe's and purchased some new flooring for the kitchen and dinning area of the house. The flooring that we have now is real cheap peel and stick vinyl tile and it's starting to break up in places. Now, as soon as Kevin, (the handyman that Jim and Linda use), has some time, he'll install it.

For Thanksgiving, Jim and Linda are invited to Marv and Inez's for dinner again. Laura and Lindsey will be there as well as most of Lindsey's brothers. It should be a full house again. :-)

The weather has been great here in Florida with highs in the upper 70's and lows in the 50's and 60's. A cold front came though last night though and today the temps are only going to get up to the mid-sixty's and down into the upper 30s tonight. But, then it's supposed to warm up again with high temperatures in the upper 70's forecasted for Thanksgiving day.

Don't know if I'll be posting again before Thanksgiving, so Jim, Linda and I want to wish all of you a very happy and safe holiday.

Did you know that the first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days?

Woof!!!

    

Saturday, November 12, 2016

Some Home Repairs and A Great Gesture

DeBary, FL.

55 deg. clear, NW wind @ 3 mph.

Forecast = Sun and clouds mixed. High around 80F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.


When Jim and Linda first came to the house when we returned to DeBary, one of the first things Jim did was to turn on all the electricity and then the water. When he turned on the water, (at the meter), he noticed that the meter kept showing usage even though he gave it time to fill pipes, toilets etc.  He quickly shut the water back off and came into the house to see where the water was going.

Well, what he found was that the toilet fill valve in the bathroom, off of the bedroom, was not shutting off and was causing the problem.  So, he shut off the valve under the toilet and went back out and re-opened the main valve.

Now, Jim and Linda have never liked that toilet. It had a low seat height, the seat was small and  uncomfortable and he had had trouble with the tank valves before. The toilet in the front bathroom wasn't too great either. It had a broken piece under the tank, (which didn't seem to hurt anything,) but it always worried Jim that it would break more and cause a severe leak.

So, a couple days later, Jim called Kevin, (the local handyman, who Jim and Linda have used before). He came over and looked at the toilets and a few other things that Jim and Linda need done here at the house, and suggested Jim head over to Lowe's or Home Depot and pick up a couple toilets and he'd get them installed right away.

Well, that's what Jim did. He found some nice Kohler toilets that were on sale at Lowe's and now we have 2 new toilets that are working perfectly and should last a good long time. :-)

It was an expense that Jim and Linda hadn't counted on, but it's better to replace them now than to wait until they leak or something and cause a whole lot of damage.

Other than that, everything else seems to be working well and except for doing some work in the kitchen and dinning area, (new floor surface), which they were planning to do when we returned, all is well.

Yesterday, Jim and Linda headed over to the Winn Dixie Grocery Store near here to buy a bunch of groceries. As they were checking out at the register, there was an elderly gentleman and his wife checking out in the next isle. The gentleman had a cap on, stating that he was a veteran, and as he was about to pay the cashier, the man in line behind him told him to "put away his card" as he was going to pay for the couple's groceries!!  The man told the elderly gentleman that he wanted to thank him for his service to the country and felt that buying his groceries was the least he could do.

What a great gesture!!!!

I hope all of you took a little time to remember all the veterans who gave so much to keep us free. Yeah, we've got some problems, but the good old USA is still the best county in the world!!! 

This next Tuesday, both Jim and Linda have appointments to see Dr. Saferali, their chemo doctor for a follow-up appointment. Neither of them expect anything wrong so they're not too worried about going to see her.


Did you know that the major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect? The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954. 

Woof!!!

Saturday, November 5, 2016

The Scan and The Results

DeBary, FL.

64 deg. mostly cloudy, no wind.

Forecast = Sunshine and clouds mixed. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 79F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph.


Thursday morning, a little past 9:30, Lila, (who started right up after setting for 4 1/2 months with a Battery Tender hooked up to her battery), took Jim and Linda over to Dr. Graham's office for his 10:00 appointment to get the PET Scan. They got there in plenty of time and a little after 10:00 they called Jim in to get started.

After getting the injection of some radioactive "stuff", Jim had to sit in a little room for an hour to let the "stuff" completely circulate throughout his body. Then, they put him on the scan machine and in about 20 more minutes, he was finished.

Being that Jim hadn't been able to eat or drink anything, (except water), since the night before, he and Linda headed over to Bob Evans for a good breakfast.

Jim hadn't slept very well, so they decided that they'd skip going over to the CG to get more things out of Nora. Instead they came back here to the house where Jim took a nice long nap. ;-)

Then, yesterday morning, Jim had to go back to Dr. Graham's office to get the results of the Scan. He and Linda got there about 9:40, so they had to sit and wait for awhile. In fact, even after the nurse took them back into one of those little exam rooms. they still had to wait for almost 45 minutes before the Dr. came in to see them!!!

Talk about a tense time!!!!!

Eventually, the Dr. came in and gave them the results of the scan.

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , "What were the results", You ask????  Well the Dr. said that according to the scan, there are, (Are you ready for this?) No active cancer cells anywhere in Jim's body!!!!!! 

There is some scar tissue in his left lung, but that is to be expected, but the lung looks better than it did in the last scan, which Jim had back in the spring. This does not mean that the cancer will never come back, but as of now, as far as they can tell, Jim is cancer free!!! :-)  :-)  ;-)

A huge load came off of Jim's shoulders when he said that, and Linda cried.

So, because of the thoughts and prayers from all of you and the good doctors, Jim is doing well and will hopefully, be around for quite a few more years. Thank You!!! Thank You!!! Thank You!!!


Did you know that November is Banana Pudding Lovers Month?

Woof!!!



Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Calahan To Delton, Stuck In The Sand and Back At The House

DeBary, FL.

73 deg, clear, no wind.

Forecast tonight = Showers possible early. Lows overnight in the mid 60s.
Forecast tomorrow = Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 83F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.


We left Kelly's, just North of Callahan, FL about 5 minute before 10:00 Tuesday morning and continued South on US 301. After passing through Callahan, we followed US 1 down to I-295 which took us around the West side of Jacksonville and down to the South side of the city, where we turned South on US 17. 17 then brought us all the way down to DeBary, where we turned East on local roads and follow them to Deltona, FL. and to the Paradise Lakes CG and RV Park. 

It was about 1:10 when we pulled into the CG, so it took us right at 3 hours and 15 minutes to travel the 154 miles down here.

Jim had called the CG before we left Callahan, and was instructed to just go ahead and take the site we had last year, so when we arrived, we headed right for site 118. All was going well until Jim tried to back Nora into the site. That's when Nora's wheels hit some soft sand and sunk in about 5 inches!!! Needless to say, we were stuck!!!! :-O

Jim called the manager, (Kelly), and she sent her father over to the site with a medium sized tractor. After unhooking Nora from the back of Big RED, they used the tractor to back Nora into the site and then used the bucket on the tractor to smooth the sand in the site and the road.

After all that, Jim and Linda got Nora set up and then headed over to the Double Wide to get it opened up and to unload a bunch of "stuff" from the back of Big RED so that then they could bring boxes back to use for transporting items that needed to go to the house. While they were at the house, Laura and Lindsey stopped by to talk and welcome us back home. During this time, it was decided that we'd spend the night in Nora at the CG and start moving things in the morning, with Laura and Lindsey's help. :-)

So, this morning, Laura and Lindsey came out to the CG, helped pack things in the boxes and then came here to the house and helped carry everything into the house and even help put some of it away.

There's still some stuff in Nora that needs to be brought here to the house, but it's nothing that Jim and Linda will need right away, so they'll bring it over here in the next few days.

Jim and Linda put some more stuff away this afternoon, but took it kind of easy as they were both pretty tired. In the morning, Jim has his PET Scan appointment at 10:00, so nothing will get done then. If Jim's feeling OK, they may go over to the CG and load up a few more items to bring back here, but we'll see.

Then, on Friday morning at 10:00 Jim and Linda will go see Dr. Graham to get the results of the scan. Jim is pretty worried, and it's going to be real hard to go and see the Dr.  Linda and I are worried too, but Linda has confidence that the test will show that everything is OK.

I sure hope so!!!

If you would like to know more about PET Scans, here's a link that tells about the procedure

Did you know that this week is "National Fig Week?"

Woof!!!