Happy New Year - Setting Goals?

This will be my last post of 2007 as I will be away from the computer tomorrow. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year. Please have a fun but safe celebration.

Do you set New Year resolutions? I don't know about the idea of resolutions. They sound so "all or nothing" and it's no wonder most of them fall by the wayside within a few days or weeks. But I am in favor of setting goals. The first of the year is as good a time as any to do that.

If you are looking for a place to list your goals and maybe track your progress I recommend 43Things. I've been a member there for a couple of years and I find the user community to be very helpful and supportive. You can write entries about your goals - or not. And it's fun to cheer other people on.

Just today I found another site that's great for figuring out your goals for the year keeping them in line with your values and what's important to you. It's in the form of an online workshop which took me about an hour or so to go through. I found it to be a worthwhile exercise. If you are interested go here and check it out.

What were the results of my online workshop? Well my top goal came out "declutter my home." Big surprise. :)

Happy New Year!

Pre-Christmas Gathering

Since our family is not able to get together on Christmas Day we gathered on Sunday the 23rd instead. It's not often that I and my two sisters get together all at the same time as everyone lives in different parts of the state. Of course our meeting place was at Mom's house in Lacey. It was great to see everyone.

My nephew DJ took this photo of Walter, me, Diega, Jozi and Mom. If you would like to see some of the other photos taken that day click on the picture and use the Next and Prev links to navigate the album.

Walter's Eyesight Not So Great

Walter had an eye doctor appointment this afternoon. He last saw his doctors 4 weeks ago. Since then he has experience a further decline of his eyesight. For a couple weeks he was seeing floaters but those have mostly cleared up. The biggest issue right now is what seems to be a fog over whatever he sees.

How does this affect Walter? At this point he has almost no night vision left. And in normal indoor lighting he sometimes becomes disoriented - something that was not a problem for him before.

Over the last several months since Walter can no longer see the big E on the eye chart there is another method they use to measure his sight. A technician positions herself across the room from Walter and holds up a certain number of fingers on her hand. Walter has to tell her how many fingers are being held up. They move the hand closer until Walter can see it. A month or so ago Walter could count the fingers correctly around 8 feet away (that distance is my own rough guess). Today Walter was only able to identify the number of fingers when they were about 2-1/2 feet away from him.

The doctor examined Walter's eye carefully. The good news is his eye pressure is normal now - about 18. And the retina looks good. But there is some inflammation in the eye and that's the only thing the doctor could see that might be causing the problem. The solution (we hope) is to increase his dose of prednisolone from once a day up to 3 times a day. He doesn't go back for another 5 weeks unless there are further problems.

We're wishing for a good result from the increased prednisolone. It's hoping and praying time now.

A White Christmas

Walter and I spent Christmas Day in Lacey with my Mom followed by a visit to my friend Sue who lives in West Olympia. Turns out that was a great place to enjoy the Christmas SNOW that fell on Western Washington. It's rare for it to snow here on Christmas Day. I read the last time it happened was in 1996.

The snow started coming down as we were driving down to Olympia. It was predicted to be "snow flurries" and nothing really sticking more than an inch, so we weren't too worried about driving in it. When snow first starts to fall it doesn't make much impact on the ground. I was pleasantly surprised to see the snow continue to fall for a couple hours after we arrived at Mom's house. Then it stopped.

I was afraid our snow dusting was over without anything really sticking, when it started back up again. Sometimes it was light and sometimes it was as though someone dumped it from a bucket. By 5:30 when we left Mom's to go visit Sue it was sticking pretty good. I was surprised to find that snow was covering not only the grass but also the freeway when we set out for West Olympia. It was significant enough people were driving quite slowly. That's a good thing. When we got to Sue's neighborhood we slid around a bit, but arrived safely. There was over an inch on the streets by then.

We made it home safely to Seattle with our "White Christmas" memories in tow.

This 15 second video is an attempt to capture the snowfall through my Mom's kitchen window. It never shows up on video quite the way it appears to the naked eye. But you can see how halfway through the video the snowfall rate picks up dramatically. That's how it went - light, then suddenly heavy for a while. You can't see the temperature on that thermometer in the window but it was around 34-35 degrees Fahrenheit. Just barely cold enough to be snow instead of rain.

If you were in Western Washington did you enjoy our "White Christmas"? It didn't last long, but it was so pretty coming down.

Home - Merry Christmas!

This is that wonderful time of year when so many of us head home - either in body or spirit. For me home is wherever my loved ones are. Walter and I will be spending Christmas Day with my Mom in Olympia.

About a year ago I came upon this wonderful video entitled "Home" by Happy Slip. I've been waiting a year to share it with you. There are some delightful scenes in it that made me smile and I hope they do the same for you.



Where is home for you? Wherever is your home and wherever you will be spending the holidays, I wish you all the season's best including a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Meet Ally

A couple years ago I wrote about my brother-in-law Bill who is very talented with pieces of wood and carving implements not to mention sandpaper and paint. Bill has continued to hone his skills and he has developed into quite the artist.

I heard from my mother that Bill was working on an alligator. He had shown it to her when the carving was done but before he painted it. When I was in Olympia on Monday he brought over the finished product to show me. He had spent 10 hours on painting alone. If you click on the pictures below you can see them up close. He did the tiny speckled effect with a toothpick. The white paint is luminescent so it glows in the dark.

I think it's fun to examine Bill's artwork closely because there are always details that you wouldn't expect. The alligator's eyes are pretty bloodshot, and if you were to look closely at the teeth you would see they have a little blood on them too. I'm not sure why the pupils are 9's, but I'm sure there is some significance there. He thought about carving toes but that would have made them fragile so he thought it better to paint on the toes.

Bill tells me he has several more projects in progress including a 6 foot tall dragon. For each piece he can tell you where he found the piece of wood and what kind it is. It is amazing to me that someone could look at a boring piece of stump or branch and see something of beauty waiting to be revealed.

You have quite the talent, Bill. Keep up the great work!

Hot Cocoa Party at Elliott's House

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of paying a visit to my little friend Elliott and his mom and dad Cynthia and Doxey. We had wonderful hot cocoa (Ghirardelli's!) and some yummy banana bread that Cynthia made.

Elliott showed me this special ornament he made in daycare/school. If you look closely at the picture you can see the ornament is a small frame with a picture of Elliott inside. The frame itself has special sparkly glitter that Elliott added himself (with a little help from his dad).


Elliott's parents used to take monthly birthday pictures of Elliott sitting in the "big red chair" next to Samuel, his teddy bear friend. Lately, however, it's been difficult to get Elliott to stop moving long enough to sit up next to Samuel. We made a few attempts to get the sitting pose last night, but Elliott has a little too much energy to just sit where you put him. Instead I got a few prone shots of the squirmy wormy boy with his more sedate bear. I like this one.


To cap the evening off I had to get a picture of the family Christmas tree. The branches start nice and low to the ground so Elliott can enjoy it too.


To see more pictures from the evening just click here and use the Next or Prev links to navigate the album. There are also a few more pictures over at Elliott's blog.

Thank you to Elliott and his mom and dad for having me over. It was a fun time!

Visit to Cabela's

Last Tuesday night on our way home from Lacey we stopped at the new Cabela's store. It's the first Cabela's outfitters' store in Washington state, and what a store it is! The chain got its start catering to hunters and fishermen but has expanded to include gear for lots of outdoors activities. They also have lots of great outdoor appropriate clothing if you're looking for something special to keep you warm and dry.

The place is huge. For me it was more like a tourist attraction than a store. Right in the middle is a great big man-made mountain. And all over this mountain are stuffed animals, taxidermy style. We saw several kinds of deer, wild turkeys, a musk ox, bears, a sea lion, beavers, a moose, and a bunch more animals that I can't remember. Underneath the mountain there is a small aquarium containing trout.

On the upstairs level you will find a safari area where they have an elephant, zebra, lion, and other African animals. Also on the second floor you will find an archery shooting range and a deli/restaurant. The deli is an interesting visit in itself serving up such delicacies as elk, ostrich, venison bratwurst and bison bratwurst. I had a wild boar sandwich. No, it didn't taste like chicken ... it tasted like ham! If you are not an adventuresome eater, not to worry. They also have "regular" food like turkey, roast beef and chicken salad sandwiches not to mention chili dogs and pizza by the slice.

We had a fun time looking around and visiting one corner called the "general store" where I purchased some homemade fudge to take home (yum!). Were also looked at some of the prepackaged "outdoor survival" food for our emergency kits. It was interesting to me that a high percentage of food that is considered "outdoor survival" is actually some form of candy. Except for the fudge we managed to resist.

If Cabela's sounds like a fun place to you, I really recommend you give it a visit when you are in the area.

Of course I brought my camera and took a bunch of pictures so I could share with all of you. Here is a little slideshow for you.



Visit to Cabela’s 12/07

Elevator Encounters

It can be fun to talk to people in elevators. It is my opinion that we as a society are too isolated from one another. Especially in the big cities (like Seattle) people don't talk to strangers at all. We are lacking a certain connectedness people used to have with one another. Of course it's not that way everywhere. People in smaller towns and some other states can be quite friendly on the street or any place they meet up with a stranger.

In order to do my part to change this just a little bit, I like to talk to people in elevators. If I get in an elevator and there is one other female in there, 90 percent of the time I make a point to talk to her. Sometimes I chat about the weather, sometimes I'll compliment her on her bag or cute outfit, or generally talk about something going on in the world or just in the building that day. People almost always react in a very positive manner. They are happy that someone took a moment to say something kind, and sometimes they take the conversation even further.

About a week ago I was riding up in the elevator and got stopped when a tall and striking woman got on. She had a fabulous long cardigan sweater on with beautiful ruffling all the way down the front. Very dramatic. I started up a conversation with her about it. It was a really fun chat and she seemed really happy to get the compliment. When she stepped out on her arrival floor she told me "you made my day!" And of course I was happy with that little moment of connection as well.

On Friday I got on the elevator in the middle of the afternoon to go down and get something to eat. It was late and I hadn't gotten lunch yet. The elevator stopped to let someone on. This time it was a male. Judging by his attire (suit and briefcase) and the fact he was coming from a law firm floor I suspected him to be an attorney. He no sooner got on the elevator than he said to me "You SMELL good!" ?!!

I was totally surprised. And at first I didn't know what to say in response. So I stammered "are you sure that it's me?!" He replied "well something smells good!" Then after a moment he added "it smells like candy. Something smells like candy!" While he was making these exclamations someone else got on the elevator. I tried to think what he could be talking about while doing my own inhale/smell test. Sure enough, something smelled good. But shoot, I've been smelling that all day. Wait ... that means it probably IS me! It was then that I remembered.

When I arrived at the office that morning I decided to use a room spray in my office. I have a collection of 4 sprays. I thought it would be festive to use the Christmas scent, but in my sleep-deprived state I had grabbed the gardenia one. I sprayed it up in the air, but of course the scent landed on me. When I realized it was the room scent that had been following me around all day, I explained what had happened to the guy in the elevator. He just kept exclaiming "Smells good!" and "Smells like candy." Too funny!!

Regardless of the scent, it was a really fun bit of human contact and this time someone else made MY day. I think I laughed to myself all the way down the street.

Of course I don't talk to people who have their eyes and thumbs glued to a Blackberry or other mobile device. I usually think "I sure hope that's a very important email you're reading because you don't know what else you might be missing out on." I feel a little sorry for them.

When was the last time you spoke to someone in an elevator? Or if you don't ride elevators, how about a store clerk? Or any stranger you meet in a day?

Storm Devastation

As I described in my previous post we were fortunate to come away unscathed by the devastating series of storms that hit southwest Washington on Monday. Tens of thousands of people, especially in Kitsap, Lewis, Grays Harbor and Mason counties were not so lucky. With the storms came widespread flooding, power outages and 6 deaths.

The Centralia area in Lewis County was one of the hardest areas. Floods engulfed one-third of the town of Centralia and completely shut down an 11 mile stretch of I-5 for more than 3 days. I understand the water was 10 feet deep along 3 miles of the freeway. The Seattle PI quoted a volunteer who was helping to get supplies to people who need them as saying "I've lived here 26 years, and I've never run a jet boat down I-5 before. It's pretty unbelievable."

My sister Jozi, who lives in Centralia was fortunate to have her home spared. My cousin Rhonda was not so lucky. It took several days before any of the family members heard from Rhonda. When I started writing this post a few days ago I was going to call it "Where's Rhonda?" because she seemed to be missing. Fortunately she is found and she and her husband are safe, staying with friends. But they sustained major damage to their home which they recently finished renovating.

Word has it that they didn't have much time to leave. Someone pounded on their door in the middle of the night to let them know they needed to evacuate immediately. By the time they got dressed the water was flowing into their house. The waters eventually reached their windows so you can imagine how much damage was sustained. Since the waters receded they have been taking things that can be salvaged to Rhonda's mother's home in Elma to dry out. I hope they can make their home habitable once again, but I know it will take much hard work and lots of money for the repairs. I can only imagine they are heartbroken over this.

Jozi lives near the Skookumchuck River which did not rise as high as the Chehalis which is near Rhonda's home. Still, it's nerve-wracking waiting to find out if your home will be safe. Jozi lost a day and a half of work because of the freeway shutdown and not wanting to get stuck in Olympia if her route became completely impassable. She described a couple days of constant helicopter noise. You see, helicopters came from near and far (even from California) to help in the rescue effort. Over 300 people were rescued by helicopter from their homes.

Flood waters also caused road closures on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton got a record 12+ inches of rain.

These storms were not only full of rain but high winds as well. Hurricane force winds hit on the coast causing over 50,000 customers to lose power - about 30,000 of them in Grays Harbor County. My cousin Karen lives in that area and she had to evacuate her apartment. Not because of flooding, but because the wind took the roof off the apartment building! The coastal area was completely isolated from road access because of flooding and had to endure days without power. Two days ago there were still 16,000 without power. Since the storm the weather has turned cold. What a miserable situation.

Lewis and Grays Harbor Counties were recently declared federal disaster areas. I'm planning to donate some money for the relief efforts. If you find yourself in a position to do the same and would like to help, King5 has a page here with a great list of ways you can help.

Trip to Oly on Monday

Our trip to Olympia on Monday was a bit of an adventure as that was the day the local storm was in full force. Driving down we experienced lots of rain and wind. The experience involved a bit of white knuckle driving as we made our way down I-5 through low spots full of standing water, rooster tails that surprised us by covering the windshield beyond visibility, and winds that pushed the car to and fro. We were thankful that the new Honda has new tires on it so we didn't have to worry about hydroplaning as much as we would have with the Saturn. On the other hand, it has a higher profile than the Saturn so we felt buffeted by the winds a bit more.

We made it to Olympia safely though, and were happy to discover that Mom's power had returned the evening before. We picked her up from Sue's house and took her off to her doctor appointments. By the time we left at the end of the day the storm was subsiding and fortunately Mom's power was still on. We left her at her home secure in the knowledge that she would be safe and plenty warm.

Mom's appointments went fine. Yesterday she went back to the eyelid surgeon for a follow-up and he said everything looks great. If you look closely at this photo you will see that she has a bit of a shiner under her right eye. That's from the surgery, I promise. No one popped her. :)

Some Crazy Weather

We are having a few days of crazy weather here in Western Washington. Yesterday it snowed. Not a lot, but it was accompanied by stronger than normal winds so the snow seemed to come down fast and furious. I couldn't grab the camera fast enough to catch it at its peak. But below is a 15 second scene of the snow falling outside the office window.

Today it has been raining a lot and tomorrow another storm is expected with heavy rains and high winds. The wind was with us some today too, and my mother's power went out. We are thankful for my friend Sue who took Mom home to spend the night with her. Mom has two doctor appointments tomorrow so we will pick her up in the morning. Hopefully the power will be back by then and will stay on.

The wild weather should make for an interesting drive to Olympia. We will probably get to see how our new car fares in fowl weather.

Mom and Diega Doing Well

Mom had her lower right eyelid surgery on Tuesday. It went really well (the procedure took only about 15 minutes). This is a picture of her in the recovery bed and she got to go home shortly after this photo was taken. The nurses thought she looked pretty cute with her white eye patch. They told her the white eye patch means she's a GOOD pirate!

Once the patch was removed the area looks great - just like she has a black eye. Her surgeon did a good job at tightening up the lower lid so she should no longer have a problem with constant eye infections.

Diega is doing well too. She got to go home from the hospital on Thursday. She's in a fair amount of pain yet but getting a little better each day. She's gradually adding more solid foods each day - today she had crackers in her soup and some applesauce.

We're all glad that everybody is on the mend. Thanks to everyone who sent their prayers and well wishes our way.

Visiting Diega

On Friday Walter and I took a drive up to Port Townsend to see my sister Diega. Her latest surgery had not solved her problems as quickly as hoped so she's still in the hospital. Diega seemed very happy to see us and we had a nice visit. You can see her here chatting on the phone with our sister Jozi.

Diega has been in the hospital two weeks now and she was getting pretty frustrated. But I'm happy to report that "things began moving" for the better a couple days ago and she is finally making significant progress toward recovery. Today she was thrilled to get that nasogastric tube out. She's looking forward to first a liquid diet and then being able to eat some solid food. Yay!! Keep on getting better, Diega. We're all rooting for you.

Tomorrow my mother gets a little surgery on her lower eyelid which will hopefully prevent further eye infections. I'll be with her in Olympia for a couple of days.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Serenity

I just had to share this beautiful picture that to me embodies the word "serenity." Kimber took this photo on a recent weekend trip to Moclips, Washington on the coast. It's hard to believe that she took this photo with her camera phone.

This photo brings back lots of fond memories from my childhood when I spent a week each summer at the ocean. I love it when the sand is rippled and dimply like this from the tide level being about even with the top of the sand. To me it's an invitation to go barefoot. Somehow I doubt Kimber did that in late October though.

When I first got this picture in my email I glanced at it only briefly (it was a busy day). And on first glance I thought this was a beach littered with pilings. I thought those were posts out there in the water. But upon closer inspection I realize those are people. And not just any people ... they are clam diggers! You can click the photo to see it a little larger. Kimber happened to be at Moclips on the opening weekend of razor clam digging season.

I remember clam digging season from when I was little. It meant getting up verry early to go to the beach and the adults finding a zillion different ways to cook with the razor clams they dug. I loved razor clams. I think my favorite was when Grandma would fry up ground clams in a batter like fritters. Yumm! But I digress...

I think the reason I thought those were posts instead of people is that I think of the ocean (at least the Washington coast) as much more deserted than this. But clam digging explains why so many people were out there.

Kimber thought this photo would make me smile. It did. And I hope it will do the same for you.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!

New Wheels

Walter and I are the proud owners of a new (to us) 2001 Honda Civic sedan. We bought it from my friend and coworker Angie who recently moved to Atlanta. Lucky for us Angie decided not to take her car with her when she moved cross-country. We were not actively looking for another car but the timing was good. Our Saturn (a 1996) is getting older and I can see more expensive repair bills in its future. That's something we would like to avoid if possible so it seems this would be a good time to move on.

We've been emailing and calling Angie and her cousin (who was keeping the car for her here locally) for weeks working out all the logistics of transferring the car to us. Friday night with our friend Kimber's help we brought our new car home.

The Honda was exactly what we would have been looking for in a replacement: practical, reliable, fuel efficient, and manual transmission. And it didn't hurt that a few nice extras came with the package:

• an alarm system with a push button to lock and unlock the doors from the outside
• a CD player instead of a cassette player;
• power windows and power locks (no more rolling down the window manually or reaching across to unlock a door for Walter);
• a power sunroof! I'm sure we'll figure out how it works before summer;
  
• it is CUTE. Or as Kimber described it "a sportier look" (that wasn't difficult to accomplish since the old car was a station wagon); and
  
• it's pretty zippy and fun to drive.

Here are a couple pictures of our new baby.

Diega in the Hospital

My sister Diega has been having a hard time of it lately. She had an emergency appendectomy almost two weeks ago. She was in the hospital for a couple days then they sent her home. Her recovery did not proceed as it should have. She was sick, having trouble with her bowels, and her abdomen looked like she was about 8 months into a pregnancy.

Last Tuesday she went back to the doctor for a follow-up. They sent her to Emergency and she was admitted into the hospital right away. Turns out there were complications from her appendectomy. For the last week she has had to endure a nasogastric tube siphoning off the bad stuff from her stomach and endless x-rays and CT scans. Finally today they decided they must do another surgery to correct the situation.

Her surgery went well and they think she will be all fixed up. It seems unlikely she will get to go home by Thanksgiving but hopefully she will start recovering in earnest now and can look forward to feeling much better soon.

Windstorm Monday in Olympia

I've been slow to post any updates lately. Seems like life is always hectic. Monday was our regular day to go to Olympia and help Mom. She had a doctor appointment that day. What was unusual is that there was also quite a windstorm which struck with particular ferocity in Thurston County where she lives. When we got there we were greeted by limbs strewn about her yard and driveway.

Here are some of the trees next to Mom's driveway that caused all the debris.

Mom's power was out. That didn't stop us from taking her to her doctor's appointment though ... where the power was also out! Fortunately for us they were still open for business but the doctor didn't have access to the chart notes on his computer. Also the lab was closed because they couldn't see well enough to take blood.

When we got back from doctor appointments the power was back on. Yay! Mom's neighbor buddy Tyler came over to check on her.


How's she doing? Well as you can see she needs to eat more. But other than that she's doing okay. On Monday we meet with the folks from the Meals on Wheels program. I hope that will work well and help her to gain some weight.

Facing My Fears

I have a phobia about anyone getting near my eyes to put in eye drops or touching them or puffing air for a pressure exam. That includes putting eye drops in myself.

About a week ago I developed some eye pain and discomfort that I think is related to dryness. I know I need to go to the eye doctor to get checked, but I've been putting it off. A few days ago I started putting in artificial tears to lubricate my eyes. That's really hard for me to do but I hope that with practice I will get better at it.

The process currently involves lying down with my eye closed, squeezing the drop near the opening of my eye and then blinking until the drop goes into the eye. Even at that it's really hard to get myself to squeeze the bottle because of my fear. It takes a few minutes. Yes, I'm a weenie.

When I was young I had the same fear of needles that most kids have when they get shots. But when it became necessary for me beginning as a young teen to go through years of allergy shots, the shots quickly became routine and no longer produced anxiety.

I'm hoping that I can overcome my fear of eye drops the way I overcame my fear of needles - with patience and repetition. My dream is that someday I can 1) put in my own eye drops with my eye open and sitting or standing up and 2) go to the eye doctor's office without extreme anxiety and without a doctor asking me if I had a trauma as a child. Wish me luck.

What fears do you need to face?

Mom Hardly Eating

My mother has recovered from her illness but she continues to lose weight. She was last weighed at 85 pounds (38.5 kilos). Compared to most people she eats like a bird. This is a woman who earlier this year weighed 125 pounds. She was on the pain killers which caused nausea for so long she forgot how to eat like a normal person and her taste buds are all messed up.

We are trying lots of things to try to help her eat more. She told me the other day that she is not ready to give up yet because she has her girls (us daughters). She's really trying to eat more but so far is not very successful.

She goes back to the doctor tomorrow. I hope something works soon. She is so thin now she is constantly tired and spends much of her time in bed. I'm very worried about her.

Bunch of Updates

Wow, a lot has happened since I last posted. Most of it is family medical stuff so I will try to catch you up in this one post.

Walter's Eye Surgery
Walter is doing well after his surgery. Everything went fine and we're just waiting to see how the eyesight will settle. Right now it's in some ways a little better than before the surgery (but not as good as a few weeks ago) and in other ways it's not so good. It takes a while to heal so we will be patient and wait to see what happens. The good news is that Walter's eye pressure came down to a very reasonable number and hopefully it will stay down for a long time. Many times after a surgery like this there are small adjustments to be made including which eyedrops to take, but we'll get that all sorted out.

Mom's Kyphoplasty
My mom's surgery went very well. And the best thing is it greatly reduced her pain. We are very thankful for that. Unfortunately she wasn't able to eat for weeks before the surgery due to pain and pain meds. When they weighed her in pre-op we found out she was down to 93 pounds. Gaining weight is going to be a high priority for her.

Now Mom's Sick
Two days after Mom's surgery she came down with a horrible diarrhea problem and has been sick for 3 days. She's been to the emergency room twice and was given IV fluids. The doctors think it's some kind of gastroenteritis. She has an appointment with her main doctor tomorrow so we'll find out what he has to say. In the meantime the problem seems to be slowing down. Hopefully it's about over.

It's frustrating because the first thing they say for diarrhea is to stop eating solid foods. She's not going to gain any weight that way. Poor Mom, she's getting pretty frustrated and discouraged with her health issues. We hope something will turn around for her very soon.

And Then There's Diega
At 5:00 this afternoon I got a call from my sister Diega. She was headed into emergency surgery for appendicitis. Diega has been having abdominal pain for a few days. She went to the doctor today and they found out it was her appendix. I'm told they will do the procedure laparoscopically and she should be able to go home tomorrow.


Amongst all the bad news there are some blessings to count. For example I'm really glad that Mom's back is feeling better and that she didn't get this gastroenteritis thing while she was still having intense back pain. And of course there's my own health to be thankful for...

Surgeries Stacked Up

Well it's official. Walter's glaucoma surgery (a valve implant) will take place tomorrow afternoon at Swedish here in Seattle and my mom's surgery will be on Thursday afternoon at St. Peter's Hospital in Olympia. Walter goes in Thursday morning to have his eye patch removed and probably get some external stitches out. After I take him home from that appointment its back to Olympia for Mom's surgery. Mom will stay in the hospital until about noon Friday and then I will stay with her for 24 hours after that.

Hopefully by the end of the week everybody will be all fixed up and doing well. I will try to post an update on Sunday.

Haircut for Mom

My mom continues to have a tough time with pain.

Last week there were just a couple days she was feeling better and her pain let up so she was able to be up and active for a portion of the day. In fact she was feeling well enough that she had my sister Jozi take her out to get her hair cut.

I just had to take a picture of her in her new hair cut and with a big smile on her place. She's pretty cute.

The pain has gotten bad again though so she's been staying in bed as much as possible. Tomorrow is her appointment with the specialist so hopefully they will schedule her kyphoplasty soon.

Kyphoplasty

An MRI earlier last Tuesday showed that Mom has a number of reasons to have all this back pain, not the least of which is a compression fracture in her lower back.

When a compression fracture occurs the spine collapses a bit and the space between the discs becomes smaller, pinching nerves and causing pain. After consulting with some specialists Mom's doctor got her referred to someone who will do a procedure called a Kyphoplasty. There will be two injections done on either side of the spine where the fracture is. Tiny balloons are inserted into each site and inflated to increase the space between the discs. The balloons then come out and cement is injected in their place permanently restoring the height of the vertebra.

The scheduler for this procedure pointed me to an excellent video showing how this procedure works. To see it go to this page and click I Agree, then click on the "See Narrated Animation" link.

The procedure will be done under general anesthesia and will require one night's stay in the hospital. According to Mom's regular doctor they may do an epidural injection of numbing medicine for her at the same time. I am told that Kyphoplasty has a really good success rate for providing relief of the sharpest pain from a fracture. There will probably remain some residual pain from all the muscle trauma, but they will have physical therapy help her with that.

The bad news is that the only doctor in Olympia who does this procedure is out of the office next week. The soonest we can go in for the consultation is October 30. I'm not sure how soon after that we will be able to schedule the procedure.

In the meantime Mom is on two strong pain medications and still in pain. I am optimistic that the Kyphoplasty will provide some relief for Mom. I just hope she can hold out until the doctor can do it.

Unexpected Postcards

In the last week or so I've received two postcards from people who saw my name and address at PostcardX.

This first card depicts a beautiful aerial photo of St. Louis, Missouri and was sent to me from a woman in Virginia:

And this card is a photo of a painting in the National Gallery of Art called "Little Girl in a Blue Armchair" circa 1878. This card was received from someone in upstate New York.

It's great to get something so personal, fun and unexpected in the mailbox. Postcards beat bills and junk mail every time.

Halloween Surgery?

It has been almost 2 years since Walter had a corneal transplant and lens replacement surgery in his right eye. His sight has been up and down since then.

One issue a corneal transplant does not address is high eye pressure problems also known as glaucoma. It was high eye pressure that took the vision of Walter's left eye some years ago and he is on multiple eyedrop medications for glaucoma in his right eye as well. Even with three different medications the eye pressure is too high so Walter was referred to be evaluated by the same glaucoma specialist he first saw about three years ago.

The glaucoma doctor told Walter about a surgery that would likely relieve his eye pressure problems. They basically add a small metal plate up under the upper eyelid and create a space for fluid to drain. Then they add a shunt (a tube, or as Walter likes to call it "a drainage pipe") to enhance the eye's natural drainage system.

The doctor had us try a different medication routine first, but that effort failed miserably. I couldn't go to Walter's eye doctor appointment today because I was with Mom at her MRI. When I got home Walter broke the news that he is scheduled for surgery on Halloween.

That's probably good news because it sounds like this surgery has a good potential to help him. At the least it should forestall further decline in Walter's vision from the high eye pressure. Without it his right eye would surely go the way of his left (to black). Also, he may experience some vision increase from the surgery because the undrained fluids that collect behind his cornea cause cloudy vision which has been a persistent problem for Walter. And if all goes well he may be able to do away with his glaucoma medications for the right eye.

Of course the surgery comes with risks as all surgery does. There will be an hour on the operating table with general anesthesia. But it appears to be a more straightforward (easier) procedure than the one he had two years ago, so we are optimistic.

Maybe I should get Walter a black eye patch to go over his surgical eye patch so he can be a pirate for Halloween. What do you think?

Mom is Bedridden

My mom is pretty much bedridden with her pain now. Since Friday she has had to stay in bed for most of each day. She gets up to use the bathroom, eat some small meals and take her medications. She is always eager to get back to her bed because the pain is not under control.

The epidural that was suggested last week went by the wayside when they decided they needed to get an MRI first. Today was her MRI. Tomorrow she goes back to the doctor. He may or may not have the MRI results by the time she seems him, we'll see.

An epidural injection is still a possibility I think provided the MRI doesn't show something unexpected. The difficulty with getting that done earlier was finding who was the right doctor who could refer her for it. They tried referring her to a neurosurgeon and turns out the neurosurgeon doesn't want to see her unless she's a surgical candidate. So they need to find someone else. All the while time is passing.

Mom's doctor is one of the most senior doctors there so hopefully he will know who to send her to if he agrees that an epidural is a good idea. In any case she needs some different treatment from what they have tried so far. Her current treatment is not WORKING.

As Mom put it today "I hope they figure out what's wrong because I'm ready to have this torture over with."

Rockin' Out Cockatoo

Every once in a while someone sends me something that's just too fun not to share. Check out this link where you will find an amazing video of a dancing cockatoo. This bird (Snowball is his name) dances to the Backstreet Boys beat and sings too! I thought it was hysterical and I couldn't resist dancing right along with Snowball. How about you?

A Day Without Connectivity Is Like a Day Without...

Today was a very strange day at work. Our connectivity to the world was down pretty much all day. That means no phone service to the outside world, no email to the outside world and no internet connection. Yikes!

As it turns out there was a construction mishap near our building which caused a Qwest fiberoptic cable to be cut. In the late afternoon we finally had phones back but it wasn't until after 6pm that our email and internet connection were working again.

These days it's very hard to go without connectivity and still get your work done. It felt so odd. I found myself having to think out of the box for different ways to get things done. And all day long I was adding to a list of things to do "after we are connected again." I felt out of my element a bit. Sort of discombobulated if you will. Some people remarked that they were actually getting work done without the phone ringing constantly. I heard others saying it felt like a snow day. On a snow day not everyone makes it to the office so you don't have the full resources and expectation of communication with other people in their offices.

We don't think about all the ways we rely on the web for everyday tasks now. Transferring money in your bank account; ordering prescription refills; checking the weather report; looking up a bus schedule; getting directions; posting pictures to share; emailing friends and family. The list goes on and on.

I'm a big fan of Web 2.0 applications. So some of my notes and information that I use on a daily basis reside on the web. I had to do without those resources today. It wasn't horrible, and I wouldn't mind if this happened once a month. But I think I would prefer that it were scheduled and not a surprise. I was thankful that I didn't have any critical needs that couldn't be met in another way. And may I say, Yay for cell phones!

If you found yourself unexpectedly without internet connectivity for a full day, what would you do? Something fun I hope.

Now that we have the internet back I think I'll go look up a bus schedule to take me home.

Mom Still in Pain

My Mom is still having a very difficult time of it. The pain medications are just not helping enough and now she is taking medications to combat the effects of the pain medication. She has had several tests including x-rays which did not show a fracture. But she has severe degenerative disc disease and that contributes to this big muscle spasm she's experiencing.

At the last appointment they said they were going to refer her to someone who could give her an epidural injection. There were problems with that referral (somehow I got a call from a neurosurgeon) and now the primary doctor thinks there must be some other reason the pain is not getting better. Like perhaps a fracture that does not show up on an x-ray. So they want to do an MRI as the next step. Great idea, except that I couldn't get them to schedule an MRI before next Tuesday and today Mom says her pain is getting worse. Aargh!!

An occupational therapist visited Mom today and he agrees that she needs something done quickly. He's going to talk to a visiting nurse and see if they can pull some strings to get the MRI done sooner. I sure hope something works soon. No one should have to live their life in that much pain.

How Old Are Your Spices?

When was the last time you cleaned out your spice rack? Do you have any spices which you purchased for a single recipe and have never used since? Anything been languishing for years having long since lost its aroma and flavor?

Today I ran across this great blog post about how to tell how old your spices are. I thought it was kind of interesting. If you use McCormick's spices in some cases you can tell age by looking at the packaging or using a date code on their web site.

If your spice rack needs cleaning out you might want to take a look. Have a good weekend folks.

Happy Birthday to Walter

I wanted to take a moment to say Happy Birthday to my sweetie Walter. He had a birthday on Monday. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday he said "not to be [his age] years old." Well, I'm sorry, Dear, but I can't make that happen for you. If I could, I surely would. I would even give up the senior citizen discounts we'll be getting soon. ;)

We spent the majority of Walter's birthday in Olympia taking Mom to an appointment and helping her with a few things. When we returned to Seattle we kept driving until we got to Lynnwood and tried out the new Claim Jumper up there. The food was wonderful as we expected but the decor is pretty modern and doesn't quite measure up to the character of the Southcenter Claim Jumper. I got a big plate of jambalaya which left me overstuffed and with enough leftovers that Walter and I shared them for dinner the next evening. Walter had a giant Idaho stuffed baked potato.

For Walter's birthday gift we are planning a trip to North Bend to do some much needed clothes shopping. We always find some good deals up there at the outlet mall. Due to bad weather and extra trips to Olympia we didn't get to go last weekend but we're planning on it this coming Sunday. It should be a good time to enjoy the fall color in the mountains as well.

Walter has been so patient and understanding and supportive while my Mom has been sick. His great attitude has made things so much easier for me. And what a great sport he has been considering his birthday didn't get center stage as much as deserved since my focus has been on Mom.

Happy Birthday, Walter and may you have many decades more birthdays to celebrate.

Quiet on the Blog

It's been quiet here because things have been hectic in life. Mom saw doctors on Monday and Tuesday and she's still feeling pretty bad. Her back is killing her and her pain medication makes her too nauseous to eat much of anything although she is hungry. At my request doctors ordered new medications today. They took x-rays of her back and she doesn't have a fracture. Physical therapy will visit tomorrow and hopefully they can try some back massage. I sure hope something works for her soon. No one should be in constant pain like that.

It's Animoto Time

I found a great new site called Animoto where you can create your own 30 second (or longer) videos from your photos and music that you upload or choose on their site. The resulting videos look slicker than a slide show and it's super easy to put together.

The only thing a little limiting for me personally is that they have a very narrow selection of music to choose from. And the genres available are not necessarily my cup of tea. All that means is that I need to learn how to download mp3's I like from another source and then I can use them in Animoto videos. I have lots of friends well versed in downloading music to help me and I'm always up for learning something new.

Of course I had to try this out so I uploaded some pictures of my mom and photos of flowers in her yard. If you don't like the results you can have the same pictures "remixed" to create a new video. They say no two videos will come out the same. Here are my two 30 second videos using the same pictures and same music. Which do you like the best?





Animoto was created by some guys from the film production industry. Thirty second videos are free and full-length ones are $3 each. If you feel like taking on a fun project, give it a try yourself.

Setback for Mom

Mom hasn't been feeling too well the last few days. She has had some back pain which became pretty significant by the end of last week. On Friday morning she wasn't able to keep her breakfast down. I took her to a doctor where they told us she should take Vicodin for the pain but there wasn't much else they could do for it because she has degenerative disc disease and spurs that come out from her spine which will sometimes cause pain like this.

What the doctor didn't address was her inability to keep food in her stomach. That has continued through the weekend and today was the first time she could eat anything without it coming right back up. I was going to take her to the emergency room but when I called her this afternoon she said she is feeling better after reducing the pain pill to 1/2 pill at a time. So far today she has not thrown up. I'm going to check on her after she eats some dinner and if she can't keep it down will take her to the ER tonight. Otherwise I plan to call and get her in to see a doctor tomorrow.

Good Eatin' at Northgate

We in the Northgate area have endured a lot of construction at the mall and the surrounding area recently. I think the construction will continue for quite some time to come, but one payoff has already come to fruition.

Four new restaurants have opened at the mall in the last month with one more to come. Walter and I visited one the other night - Panera Bread. They of course specialize in artisan breads and they have great soups and salads. We had never been to a Panera before and were favorably impressed with their BBQ Chicken and Roasted Wild Mushroom Crispanis. We look forward to returning many times to sample additional items on their menu.

The other new restaurants at Northgate which are already open are Blue Fin Sushi and Seafood, the Ram Restaurant and Brewery and Stanford's Restaurant and Bar. My friend Colette visited Stanford's recently and gave it a thumbs up.

Walter and I plan to try all of these new eateries. And we're really looking forward to the opening of Romano's Macaroni Grill which is almost ready too. I hope the Northgate area can support so many new restaurants without any of the old ones closing.

A Whirlwind of Appointments

Whew, what a crazy week. It occurs to me that as of tomorrow I will have accompanied Mom and Walter on medical appointments every day for a week except for Sunday. The schedule went something like this:

• Friday - Walter appointment with eye surgeon (cornea specialist)
• Saturday - Mom had to go to the eye doctor for her eye infection
• Monday - Mom's follow-up appointment with the eye doctor
• Tuesday - Mom's appointment with her primary care doctor
• Wednesday - Walter's appointment with glaucoma specialist
• Thursday - Mom appointment with primary care doctor about a new issue. She needs a test and consultation.

The upshot of all these appointments is everybody's pretty much doing okay. Mom's eye infection is much improved although she will be on antibiotics for a while and we're keeping an "eye" on it. She had a good visit with her primary doctor but a couple (hopefully minor) new issues have come up and she needs to see him again tomorrow.

Walter's sight has been slowly improving and seems almost back to where it was before August 1. The glaucoma specialist is changing up his medications in an attempt to bring his eye pressure into normal range. The goal is to avoid long-term sight decline and maybe even have a potential for more sight improvement.

I think we're all hoping that things slow down a bit and everybody stays healthy. Everyone has been very understanding and we appreciate all the well wishes we've received from our friends.

A Tale of Two Eye Appointments

Well it's official. Mom has a raging eye infection. When we saw the doctor on Saturday morning he drained the area as best he could and put her on antibiotic pills and drops. If it's not better by tomorrow she will have to see an ophthalmologist, but she tells me by phone that it is indeed getting better. Whew. She goes back for a follow-up appointment first thing tomorrow morning.

Walter's appointment on Friday went okay. No change on the eyesight. His eye pressure has been moderately high for a while so his doctor wants him to see a glaucoma specialist again to see if there is anything more that can be done to bring down the pressure safely. He already takes 3 eyedrop medications for glaucoma. He has an appointment on Wednesday and then goes back to his regular doctor (cornea specialist) three weeks later.

Looking Out the Window

Do you ever have periods when you are so focused on one thing that you manage to ignore other details of life that you would normally pay attention to? When my mom was in the hospital and then the rehab section of a nursing home my primary focus was on her and taking care of things for her.

For several years I have had a collection of animals sitting on the dash of my car. They have been there so long that I no longer look at them that closely. Sometimes they slide around and have to be pushed back into their place in the hollow space reserved for them on the dash.

Last week I noticed that I was getting an extra reflection on my windshield that was bugging me. I thought it was just unusual lighting that day - clouds and low sunlight. Then I noticed it again the next day. Why was that bugging me? I knew it was the reflection of my animals but I couldn't figure out what was unusual about it. Surely the reflection isn't always that bad.

Finally a couple days ago I figured it out. Fetch, the Beanie Baby dog was out of his normal spot and that's why his reflection was making me crazy. He was out of the hollow spot and up near my steering wheel. How did he get there? Did he slide that far? Finally I looked at the animals more closely. And I let out a laugh. All the animals had been turned around to enjoy the view! Normally they face me. So instead of looking at little animal faces I was getting my own view of little animal hineys.

I am usually pretty good at keeping my car locked. Walter didn't do it so I don't know for sure who turned the animals around. Nothing was missing from the car. I only know it had to be someone who had a sense of humor and probably thought the animals were tired of looking at me and would prefer to see where they were going. Whoever did it, thanks for making me laugh. Too bad it took me a couple weeks to figure it out!

Quick Updates

I was going to post a funny little story for you today but my camera went on the fritz and I couldn't get the picture I wanted to go with it. I got some new batteries for the camera and hopefully that will do the trick, so maybe I can post it sometime this weekend.

Things are hopping around here. Mom's visiting nurse called me to let me know Mom has an eye infection ... again. I saw it starting to swell on Monday and figured I may need to take her to a doctor soon. I was able to get her an appointment tomorrow (Saturday) morning. Her eye doctor will be in the office and although their schedule is full they will squeeze her in. If it's like the last couple of times she just needs some medication and it should heal right up.

Mom tells me the soreness from her broken ribs is starting to lessen, and that's a good thing. I'm glad she's starting to feel better and a little stronger. She's still not eating enough though.

Speaking of eye doctors, Walter has an appointment this afternoon. His sight has been pretty stable although we're still hoping it will improve back to the pre-August 1 levels. I don't expect anything too exciting from that appointment.

After Mom's appointment and picking up medicine tomorrow I think Walter and I are going to head to the Puyallup Fair. I hope you all have a good weekend.

Slow and Steady Progress

When Mom went home from the rehab facility I stayed with her the first 24 hours to watch and make sure she would be okay on her own. I was a little nervous to leave her there alone. But from the time I saw her on Saturday until Monday I noticed she was markedly improved including getting back some of her old stamina. I think it is just a matter of time before she will be back to her old self.

Her rib still has some time to go to heal fully. She won't be alone much as she will be visited by all sorts of home care people - nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and bath aides.

I'm still a bit worried about her weight loss. She asked to be weighed when she got home and we found she was down to 103 pounds. She agrees that it would be better if she were about 115 pounds and wants to gain the weight back. I think her stomach shrunk while she was away from home though. She's trying to eat more but so far having only small successes.

She is feeling better, however, and hopefully she will get a little more of her strength back each day.

Mom is Home

Mom got to go home on Friday. She's still in a weakened state and it will take her some time to get her strength back. But she is very happy to be home.

One of the highlights of the day was a visit from her buddy Tyler. Mom is fortunate to have some great neighbors. Tyler is in the 6th grade and lives next door with his mom and dad and two sisters.

Since Mom cannot go outside her house (she has steps front and back which she is not able to negotiate on her own) Tyler brings her mail each day and takes her trash can out to the curb.

She was SO glad to see him when she got home. I just had to share this adorable picture of the two of them.

Exercise and Create a Stronger, Faster Brain

Did you get your exercise in today? If not, you might want to think about it. I came across this post the other day about how a new study indicates our brains create neurons (brain cells) when we get regular exercise. The related New York Times article is here.

It used to be thought that once we developed all our brain cells in infancy we couldn't repair any damage caused by aging, drinking or other "hard living." In fact this study shows that mice given regular exercise produce 2-3 times the number of new neurons as a sedentary mouse does.

That makes me want to take a walk. How about you?

Friday Is Going Home Day for Mom

We were originally told Mom's discharge date from rehab would probably be this coming Friday the 14th and that they would have a more accurate idea on Friday the 7th. So I called her social worker late in the afternoon on the 7th. He had left for the day and I was impatient for the information so I talked to a nurse. She told me it looked like Mom would go home on Thursday the 13th.

Unfortunately I Mom it would be Thursday and she got her heart set on it. Yesterday I found out from the social worker that the discharge date is still Friday. The nurse must not have had all the information correct in front of her. Mom was pretty disappointed when I had to tell her she wouldn't be going home until Friday. I hope she doesn't get too discouraged.

She is really looking forward to her homecoming and has given me a list of groceries to get for her house. She hasn't been eating much in the rehab place saying "I'll eat better when I get home!" I think it's her way of rebelling against having to be where she doesn't want to be. The woman is getting entirely too thin. It's a good sign that she's getting cravings for some of her favorite foods like pie, hot dogs and string cheese.

Hang in there Mom, it's just a few more days!

Mom Going Home in Less Than a Week

We had Mom's Care Conference at the rehab place yesterday. Her condition is markedly improved. Her medical condition is stable, she looks stronger and is slowly increasing in strength.

It looks like Mom's probable discharge date will be next Thursday, September 13th. She can hardly wait to go home as you can imagine. Her family is nervous though because she will be going home where she lives alone. Family will be checking in with her daily by phone and her neighbors will keep their eye out as well.

Mom will have physical therapy a couple of times a week at her home and a bath aid. I have a bunch of homework to do for her return - things to put in place so she will be as safe as possible.

After the care conference yesterday Diega was visiting at Mom's bedside. They were holding hands and I couldn't help but take a couple pictures. Diega has my Dad's dark Filipino skin tone and of course that's in contrast to Mom's "I've been inside all summer" paler skin. I thought the handholding made for some great photos and wanted to share them with you. Aren't they cute together?

Rainbow of Hope

Tuesday was another one of those long days spent in Olympia visiting Mom and looking after things at her house. Before we headed home we stopped to get a bite to eat at the Sizzler. It was a warm, muggy kind of day with some clouds coming in.

When we came out of the restaurant we found it was sprinkling just a little bit, the first time that day. As we walked towards the car I looked up and saw a beautiful rainbow against the darkened sky. Soon I noticed it was a double rainbow with a faint glimmer of a second shadow rainbow mirroring the first at least near the ground.

When my eyes followed the strongest hued rainbow up, I discovered that it was visible all the way up and back down again - horizon to horizon. Just beautiful. Of course I had to grab my camera and get some pictures. You can see the double effect in the photo above.

Of course the whole rainbow was too large to capture in one frame of my camera, so I had to use the video option to show it all to you. The clip below is about 20 seconds. Walter and I both really enjoyed this bright spot in the sky. The rainbow is a symbol of hope after all, is it not?

Can You See the E?

As I posted back on the 18th of August Walter lost some ground with his eyesight when the doctor took away the antirejection drops Prednisolone. Since then his sight has been sometimes up and sometimes down, but not back to where it was before August 1st even though he has returned to using the drops. His most recent appointment was on Wednesday.

To give you an example of what I mean by "up and down," when the doctor's assistant gave Walter the quick chart exam at the beginning of his visit Walter was not able to make out the big E at the top of the chart. Obviously he knew what it was but if he didn't know he would not have been able to make it out.

After the assistant left the room we had a few minutes to wait for the doctor. During that time Walter yawned causing tears to flood and "water" his eye. After he did that he was able to see the E. So how well Walter's sight is doing seems in part due to moisture levels. He has drops he uses for moisture (an artificial tear gel) and he's also taking Restasis so there's nothing new to add there.

Walter's doctor agreed that we have lost some ground. He adjusted Walter's meds some more and he will go back on the 21st. In the meantime I try to be extra watchful for hazards that Walter might not see himself.

20 Years and Counting

Walter and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary last Wednesday the 29th of August. It's hard to believe it's been that long. Sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday, and sometimes it seems like we've been married forever. I wouldn't have it any other way. Walter has been the most wonderful, understanding, patient, and caring husband especially over the last couple weeks of health problems for my mother.

We had plans to take a trip to Victoria for a couple days to celebrate, but those plans went by the wayside when my mother fell and then went into the hospital. Thankfully Mom's doctor helped us out with a special letter which enabled us to get our money back for our hotel reservation.

The day of our anniversary was actually the same day my mother was transferred from the hospital to the rehab facility. So I spent most of the day in Olympia making sure that all went smoothly and getting her settled in the new place. Who knew it could take 3 hours to check someone into a rehab facility?? There were tons of paperwork and questions to be answered.

Finally I made my way to Seattle and got home in time to go out with Walter for a special anniversary dinner. One of our favorite places is Bahama Breeze. Lucky for us they serve late and their food never disappoints.

At the end of August we actually celebrate two anniversaries. The 29th is our wedding anniversary and the 31st is the anniversary of the first time we met in person after meeting online and developing our relationship over the phone. Walter first flew to Seattle to see me on August 31st, 1986. We usually celebrate by dining at Totem House Fish & Chips across the street from Ballard Locks. You see when Walter first came to Seattle I played tour host and showed him the sites in Seattle starting with the Ballard Locks. Totem House was the first place we dined together.

I wouldn't recommend it on a "best of" list (it's a little greasy for us these days) but it's nostalgic for us and fun to do once a year. Because of a hectic schedule we haven't made it out to Totem House yet but hopefully we will soon.

Ah, the Drive-In

When was the last time you've been to a drive-in movie? Have you ever been? Until a couple weeks ago I had only been to a drive-in movie one time, and that was way back in high school. Some friends dragged me along and I barely remember the experience.

Recently I've been intrigued with drive-in movie theaters as they are a dying breed and it may not be long that they will still be around for us to enjoy. I've had "go to a drive-in movie" on my 43Things goal list for quite some time. Finally on August 19th we went to the Valley Drive-In in Auburn and I have to say it was a lot of fun. We saw a first-run movie, Bourne Ultimatum. I loved it!

It was a bit sad to see that there were just a few people there. True it was a Sunday night and I would imagine they get a bit more business on Friday and Saturday nights. Still, when you enter the snack bar building which is quite large it's easy to see that in its glory day it would have been filled with people ordering food and playing the video games. Instead there was just me ordering food and a couple workers manning the register and food service. It looked kinda lonely.

One nice thing about a drive-in movie is that you usually get to see two movies for the price of one. That is if you can stay up that late! Back on August 19th the drive-in's weekly email indicated the movie would start at 8:30 or so. Well it didn't start until 9:00, and then they showed trailers for 25 minutes! Yikes. By the time the movie was over it was after 11:00 and I knew I couldn't stay awake for the second one and still make it to my obligations the next day. So we left after Bourne Ultimatum. Of course as it gets later in the season movies can start earlier because it gets dark earlier.

Still, it was a fun experience and I really want to do it again. If life doesn't get too crazy we might try to go a couple more times before the season ends sometime in October. Valley Drive-In has six screens of movies to choose from. If you prefer less choices (1 screen) but a more quality viewing experience (FM instead of AM radio sound and one giant screen) there is also Puget Park in south Everett.

If you click on the photo above you can get to a few more pictures by using the Next and Prev links in Webshots.

Laundry Anyone?

The rehab facility where my mother is has a free laundry service. The only catch is, if you want them to do your laundry they recommend you permanently mark all the clothes with your name. If you don't, there is a high probability you might lose some things in the laundry room.

Mom was pretty distraught on her first night at the rehab place and she really didn't like it when we had to mark some of her clothes. I gave it some thought and figured that I would be in town at least a couple days a week so there was no reason I couldn't do her laundry for her at her house. My mother even has a brand new dryer and I had done some laundry for her just a couple weeks before so I knew how everything works. Also I didn't want Mom to have all her clothes permanently marked with a reminder of her stay there.

I spent the night in Lacey on Wednesday and Thursday nights. When I got up on Friday I decided to run a load of laundry for Mom. I put some clothes and towels into her washer and started up the cycle. A few minutes afterwards I heard a high pitched whine noise. I thought "that's strange, I didn't hear that noise last time I did laundry here." The noise went away quickly but a few minutes later I smelled something that smelled like burning.

I looked at the washer and everything seemed fine. But the burning smell was getting worse. I touched the hoses and all over the machine and nothing felt hot. But next the smoke alarm went off! I stopped the alarm and returned to the machine. This smell was only getting worse and I didn't want to burn down Mom's house. So I pulled the knob to stop the load.

I ended up calling her neighborhood Maytag repair place. After listening to my description they decided the problem is probably a worn belt. I used a mirror to get the model number off the back of the machine and scheduled the repairman to visit.

Hmm, and I thought it would be such a simple matter to take care of Mom's laundry! Fortunately when I told her about it she wasn't upset at all and made a comment that "yes, those belts wear out." Yes, I guess they do. :)

Mom Moved to Rehab

Thank you to everyone who sent well wishes for my Mom. She's doing better but still has a ways to go in her recovery. She was in the hospital for 6 days. While in the hospital her doctor's greatest concern was for her sodium levels. She also developed atrial fibrillation (a too high heart rate accompanied by too low blood pressure) so had to be moved to a special "telemetry" floor to be monitored constantly.

Within a few hours they were able to fix the heart problem with medication. Before her hospitalization she always had a strong heart so I guess it was all the trauma of broken bones and low sodium that set her heart aflutter. Tests revealed that in addition to breaking two ribs she also had some fluid on one lung and a broken pelvis. Fortunately she doesn't feel any pain from those things.

On Wednesday her sodium levels finally got high enough they felt it was safe for her to be discharged from the hospital. She wasn't well enough to go home though so she was transferred to a rehab facility. It's supposed to be the best one in the Olympia area. Mom sure didn't want to go. She didn't understand why she couldn't just go home. Never mind that she still has two painful broken ribs and cannot walk unassisted.

The first couple of days in the rehab facility were very hard for her. She was rather depressed and she was sure when they got her up to walk that they were going to send her home in a day or two. I knew that wouldn't be the case and finally had a talk with her social worker. He scheduled a Care Conference for Thursday. A Care Conference is a meeting of the patient, family, nurse, therapists and social worker to set goals for her release and hopefully tell me what help I need to have in place before she goes home. It's at the Care Conference that a tentative release date will be set.

Now that Mom knows the Care Conference will be Thursday she has reluctantly accepted the fact that she will be there a while. I think some of her fear came from not knowing if there would be an end date and maybe being afraid that she might get stuck there. My best guess is that she will be there at least 2 or 3 weeks. I really hope they can help her get strong enough to go home to her own home. We want her to be safe and not be in danger of falling again.

Mom doesn't eat very well these days. She doesn't care for the food at the rehab place. I did bring her one of the cucumbers from her garden and she seemed to enjoy that.

Mom has had some visits by friends and family, but of course there are times when no one is there. I was happy to discover the rehab facility has several animals that live there. One in particular is a cat named Lacy who frequently visits my Mom. She is a really beautiful kitty with long hair who has been clipped a bit like a lion. She's also quite affectionate and my Mom loves her company. She's a really big kitty cat though (18 lbs!) so we have to pull her off sometimes because she's a little too heavy to be laying on Mom's legs. Here is a picture of Mom with Lacy.


We also wanted Mom to have some company from home so we brought Tony, Mom's big stuffed gorilla. She was very happy to see him. Here is a pic of them together.

Mom's in the Hospital

Mom has been having a rough time of it the last week. The short version of the story is that she had a fall on Tuesday. The ER docs thought she just had bruised ribs but we found out on Thursday that she has two cracked ribs. Poor thing she was in a lot of pain.

All day Wednesday she stayed in bed under my sister Diega's care. She was in a lot of pain and couldn't get up to fix herself any food. She also stopped refusing any food at all excpect for a 1" square of bread to go with her pain pill. Something was wrong.

On Thursday morning Diega called to say Mom had vomitted a lot and it was all black. She was bleeding internally. We called an ambulance and Mom was admitted to the hospital.

At present Mom is resting pretty comfortably and seems to be in less pain from her two cracked ribs. They give her the good stuff (morphine) when they have to transport her for tests. The doctors are still working on figuring out why she had a tummy bleed, but the biggest concern is that her sodium levels are low and dropping. If it goes much lower she will be at risk of a stroke. The low sodium is stopping them from giving her any tests that involve general anesthesia.

Mom is eager to get home (keeps asking for her clothes) but she's not going anywhere for a while.

I am heading back to Olympia so won't have access to a computer for a while. I will blog more when I can. Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers from everyone. It's appreciated.

Mom and Her Cutie Cukes

My mother loves cucumbers. But not the kind you get in the grocery store. The ones in the store have a wax coating on them and to her that just ruins the flavor of them. She likes cucumbers fresh out of the garden. Even though she has discontinued her vegetable garden she decided that this year she would plant two or three cucumber plants so she could enjoy fresh cucumbers.

This spring Mom purchased some cucumber seeds and planted them. The plants didn't come to much and it was clear she wasn't going to get any cucumbers from them. So she planted some more. After waiting a few more weeks it became clear that she was not going to be successful getting cucumbers to grow from seed. So she gave up in frustration.

My brother-in-law Bill saw that she really wanted fresh cucumbers so he purchased her about three cucumber starter plants and planted them behind her house. The starter plants grew up and eventually got some blossoms where cucumbers could grow.

Mom is having trouble with her bad leg right now and she can't leave the house because she can't navigate the steps out of her home. She only leaves when we take her to doctor appointments and we can give her assistance with the steps. She has had to rely on family members to help with things outside her home like watering plants.

Yesterday we were watering a few plants for Mom and she asked us to check her cucumber plants to see if any were ready to be picked. To my delight there were four cucumbers ready to be eaten and two or three more which should be ready by next week. Mom couldn't believe how big they had grown. I got her to pose for her picture with the cucumbers.

For those of you who are following my Mom's recovery she's hanging in there. She had a bit of a backslide on Sunday (reinjured the leg) but is feeling a little better today and we are hopeful her recovery will progress uninterrupted. A physical therapist will be working with her twice a week.