I Bad!!!

DeBary, FL.

49 deg. rain, no wind.

Forecast = Showers early, then cloudy in the afternoon. High 62F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.


Yeah!!! I know, I'm Bad!!! It's been over a month since I've last posted, but to be honest, there hasn't been much interesting happening here. First there was Christmas and everything went fine. Laura, Lindsey, Anna, Ashley and her friend Chris came over Christmas morning and everyone enjoyed "finger food" and then opened presents. It seemed like everyone had a good time.

Jim and Linda spent New Year's Eve watching TV until after midnight. (Nothing exciting to write about).

On the 5th of January, Kevin, (the local handyman), and a friend came over and installed new flooring in the kitchen and dinning area. The old stuff was some peal and stick vinyl tile and it was coming loose in places and breaking up in other places. The new flooring looks really nice don't you think?

Yesterday morning, Jim and Linda took Lila and headed over to Thonotosassa, Fl. (which is over near Tampa), for Dave and Dee Dee's fish fry. You long time readers will know that Dave and Dee Dee are part of the "Illinois Bunch" that come down to Florida in the winter and spend the summer's at their homes up in Illinois. Actually, Dave and Dee Dee are the last of the Illinois Bunch that still travel. We lost Gordy a few years ago and now Denny and Bev have sold their Motorhome, so Dave and Dee Dee are the only ones left that have  RVs and still travel. :-(

Anyhow, Dave does a lot of fishing  during the summer, up in IL. Then it is frozen and he and brings the fish down to Florida each year. Then some time after the first of the year, they invite a whole bunch of people from the park where they winter in and have this big fish fry. In years past there have been as many as 50 people there, but this year, the count was down to 30 or so. The weather may had had something to do with it. it was kind of cold, cloudy with some wind, making it kind of uncomfortable to be sitting outside for too long.

This photo taken before most folks arrived.

 
Both Jim and Linda said that the fish was great though, and so was all the other food that the other folks brought.

When Jim and Linda returned here last night, they were both beat, but both said that they really enjoyed seeing Dave and Dee Dee again, and all the others that they knew from times that we used to stay at the park when we were full-timing in our Motorhomes.

That pretty much brings us up-to-date. Both Jim and Linda seem to be doing well. Jim has doctor's appointment with the chemo Dr. in the middle of February for a check-up and then, unless something's wrong, (and he doesn't expect there's anything), the next doctor's appointments for both Jim and Linda will be in April.

Hope all of you are doing well and I'm really sorry about not posting sooner.

Oh, and those of you who called or e-mailed to see how Jim and Linda were doing, Thank You!!

Did you know that on this date in 1963 - The first members to the NFL's Hall of Fame were named in Canton, OH?


Woof!!!

It's Been A Whole Week

DeBary, FL.

68 deg. some fog, no wind.

Forecast = Mostly cloudy skies with some morning fog. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 87F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.


It's been a whole week since I've posted, so I thought I'd better fill you in on what's been happening around here.

Christmas Eve, Laura, Lindsey, Ashley, Chris and Anna did come here to the house. They brought presents and added them to the ones that were already under the tree. After H and H, (Hugs and Handshakes), everyone filled a plate with the great snack/finger food that Linda had prepared. Then, after talking for awhile and enjoying the food, it was time to open the presents.

It seemed like everyone enjoyed the presents they received and soon everyone was back at the table enjoying still more food. ;-)

Christmas morning, Jim and Linda took Lila and slowly drove over to Laura an Lindsey's. (It was quite foggy). Once there, they enjoyed a great breakfast that Ashley and Laura had put together.

The highlights of the breakfast was the French Toast Casserole that Ashley put together and the bacon smokey bites that Anna made. From what I can understand, the casserole tasted just like French Toast, but was baked in the oven as a casserole. I also understand that both food items were really good!!! :-)  Along with those items there were other common breakfast items to enjoy.

After visiting for a little while, Jim and Linda returned here to the house and spent the rest of Christmas day relaxing and watching TV.

Nothing much else happened until yesterday when Jim and Linda headed over to the Florida Hospital for Jim's Pet Scan. Jim had to be there by 9:45 and after filling out a bunch of forms, finally was taken back to the Scan area around 10:30.

The scan wasn't bad, but Jim became quite uncomfortable laying still for 35 minutes on that narrow, hard bed-like thing that moved him back a forth through the scanner. Including the prep, the whole procedure took about 2 hours,

Being that Jim hadn't been able to eat anything since the previous day, he was very hungry after the scan, so Lila took he and Linda over to the Bob Evans Restaurant where they enjoyed a very nice meal. :-)

Today, Jim gets to spend the day worrying about the results of the Scan and then tomorrow morning, he gets to go to see Dr. Saferali to hopefully get the results. :-O  Hopefully Jim will find enough to do today to keep his mind busy, so he doesn't worry too much.


A Point to Ponder :  “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

Woof!!!

Sunrise, Shopping and More Milestones For Linda

Myrtle Beach, SC

48 deg. overcast. NW wind @ 5 mph.

Forecast Today = Partly cloudy. High near 50F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Tonight = Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 33F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph.

Just after I posted yesterday's blog, Jim looked out of the window and noticed this neat sunrise so he grabbed his little camera and took this shot.

Even though they were forecasting off and on showers and cool temps for yesterday, the weather turned out to be really nice. So, Jim and Linda were able to get some things done without having to deal with any inclement weather.

After leaving here, their first stop was Walgreen's where Jim went in and bought a few necessities that they were out of. From there's they ended up across the street at a store where they were having a big "end of season" sale. Everything was 50 % off and they found some great items for Christmas gifts.  Linda went into the store without her walker and managed OK (She hadn't been into a store to shop without her wheel chair or walker for almost a year). :-)

From Walgreen's, Big RED took them to the Camping World store where Jim went in and bought a few items while Linda waited outside in Big RED. From CW, they came back here and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. (Jim took a little nap). ;-)

So, what did Linda do while Jim was napping? Well, the other day, Jim suggested that since she has had her cataracts removed, she may be able to do some embroidery projects again, so a few days ago, she dug out her embroidery stuff and gave it a try. Everything went well, she is now able to see well enough to do the fine detail work and has been working on a project ever since. :-)  (She hasn't been able to see to do any "fine" work since last fall.)

For dinner, Jim and Linda decided that they'd like to go out to eat. After some research, they decided on the Islamorada Fish Company, which is located right next to the Bass Pro Shops, just a few miles from here.

When they arrived, it wasn't real clear where the entrance to the restaurant was, so Jim parked Big RED near where it looked like the door was. Well, after Jim and Linda started walking in, (Linda decided to not use her walker), they found out that the entrance was over on the other side. Linda walked all the way over there and made it without getting too dizzy or tired!! She did sit and rest a little once they were inside, but then was able to walk to the table without any problems. :-)  (Yet another Milestone. She hasn't been able to walk this far with or without a walker for over a year!! )

The food and service was very good and both enjoyed a very nice meal. In fact, they said that if we come back to this area, this restaurant will be one they'll be sure to go to again.

When they left, Jim brought Big RED closer to the entrance so that Linda wouldn't have to walk so far. ;-)

I don't expect Jim and Linda to do much today. The temperature has dropped 2 degrees since I've started this post, and the wind is supposed to pick up as the day goes on. Jim dumped the tanks yesterday morning and put the sewer hose away. If it gets as cold as they're forecasting for tonight, he'll put the water hose and filter away too, so it don't freeze. Tomorrow morning we'll be leaving here and head South. We'll probably stay one night down in southern South Carolina and then head down into northern Florida on Sunday.

How long we'll stay there hasn't been decided yet. A lot will depend on the weather. At any rate, we should be getting to DeBary either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Did you know that the walls of the American fort on Sullivan Island, in Charleston Harbor, were made of spongy Palmetto logs?  This was helpful in protecting the fort because the British cannonballs bounced off the logs.

We're proud of you, Linda!!!!

Woof!!!

Catching Up, The "Port" and Hair

DeBary, FL.

66 deg. overcast, NE wind @ 3 mph.
Cloudy. High around 80F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph.

Wow!!! I've really gotten behind with this blog, so I'll try to catch you up on what's been happening around here for the last 4 or 5 days.

Let's see now,    ,   ,  ,  ,  ,  ,   Christmas Eve, Laura, Lindsey and Anna stopped by for awhile just to visit and then Christmas morning, Jim and Linda took CLT and headed over to their house to exchange and open presents with Laura, Lindsey, Ashley, Chris, (Ashley's boyfriend), and Anna. From there, they all headed over to Marv and Inez's, (Lindsey's parents house in DeLand), where they had a nice meal and visited for awhile.

Again, Jim and Linda want to thank Marv and Inez for their hospitality. It was really nice of them to include Jim and Linda in their holiday celebration.

Jim and Linda didn't exchange gifts this year because they had just bought this new laptop computer for Jim and the Kindle Paper White for Linda. Besides that, they both said that they have just about everything else they need and there really wasn't anything else they needed or wanted this year.

Thursday was a busy day with 2 appointments. First they had to go over to the Florida Hospital in Orange City for a pre-op procedure, so they could do blood test and get all of Linda's medical information in preparation for getting the "port" inserted on Friday. After that, they had to hurry over to the Chemo place where they took more blood to make sure Linda's white cells were still plentiful so that her immune system keeps working.

Thursday was a hard day for Linda.  First of all, she wasn't happy about having the "port" inserted in her body and then, when she took her shower in the evening and combed out her hair, the comb was full of hair!! :-(   Yep, the chemo is doing it's thing on her hair and it's starting to fall out. This was expected, but was still was a traumatic time for her. :-(

Yesterday morning, bright and early, Jim and Linda headed over to the Florida Hospital where they implanted the "port" in Linda's upper chest. This was what they call an "outpatient procedure", so by about 3:00 or so, they were pulling back into the driveway.

Linda doesn't like the idea of the "port" thing at all, but she's trying to look at the good points. It will now be easier to get blood drawn for tests and will be easier on her veins when they are giving her further chemo treatments. As for the hair thing, she says that she won't have to worry about washing and combing her hair for awhile and will be able to easily wash her head.

Yesterday evening, Laura stopped by for while because she knew that Linda wasn't having a good day. By the time she left Linda was in a much better mood and was feeling much better though. :-)

So,  ,  ,  ,  that catches you up on the blog. Linda is feeling fine and only has minor pain from the insertion of the "port" yesterday. I don't know of anything special planned for today, but Sunday morning, because she has worked as a beautician,  Ashley is going to come over here and shave Linda's head before she starts getting bald spots. She will also be helping Linda with some eye make-up.

Yet again, Linda and Jim want to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers and words of encouragement. It has really meant a lot.

Thank You!!! Thank You!!! Thank You!!!

Did you know that New Year is the oldest of all holidays, as it was first observed in ancient Babylon as many as 4000 years ago?

Woof!!!