Sept. 19 - 24

     Came home from the beach on Friday the 19th.  On the way home we stopped to visit my cousin Barbara Anne Bowling and her husband Bob.  We both grew up in the south Alabama town of Monroeville.  We were in the same grade in school. Our backyard bordered with another set of cousin's and after they lost their house in a fire, she moved across the street from them.  We spent a lot of time playing together.  After moving several times, we ran into each other at Auburn.  I had only seen them a couple of times, at family funerals, or weddings since then.  We had a good visit which was quite enjoyable.  
     Arriving home we found that the puppy was still hanging around the house.  Asked several neighbors if they had lost a dog.  Puppy turned out to be about a year old and had had a litter of pups before.  Although the puppy was cute we did not want a dog because of the traveling we do.  After checking with the local vets to see if they may have recognized the dog, I finally took the dog to the Animal Shelter.on Tuesday. Maybe someone will adopt the dog.
     Went to the doctor on Monday.  I have arthritis and tendonitus in the left knee.  The pain is not related to the surgery but more a pulled hamstring caused from the swelling.  I had not taken the ibuprofen the way I should have.  I thought it was for swelling and pain so I was only taking it in the morning.  I found out that it only is good for 6 hours, so I had not been taking it the way I should.  I now have another medicine for inflammation that I take once a day.  Hopefully it will give some relief in a couple of days. After exercise I get real stiff.and thus a little more pain.  I have no pain while walking, 3 miles on Tuesday and 4 miles on Wednesday, (24th).  Also today I need to use my weedeater outside around the house.  I also need to redo the wiring for the phones in my house.  I have a lot of static that is in the lines but no static if I bypass the house wiring.  I will work on that project tomorrow, after all no since doing it today if it is not mandatory.  More to come later.
     Oh, spare time has been spent on the first 2000 piece puzzle that I have ever worked.  Amy did a lot of it too. 

Sept 13 - 18

Beach trip. View from our room on floor 13.   When we arrived it was cloudy and rainy.  Lots of waves.  Of course we forgot to bring everything we might need for a week on the beach, so we made the trip to the local Walmart for supplies.

On Tuesday we decided to walk on the beach.  This pier is 1.5 miles from our room.  So that meant our walk was 3 miles on the sand.  

Of course I had to take a picture of me. 

That afternoon we decided to go find a Best Buy so I could buy a part I needed to connect my computer to the internet.  That was an adventure in itself.  It was only 11 miles away, but the road we needed to take was closed due to an accident.  Trying to reroute on streets that do not run parallel to each other proved to be a nightmare.  When we finally got to Best Buy, the power was out for the whole shopping center.  We decided to wait for the power to come back on and the store to open up again.  After about an hour wait I was able to get the part I needed.  On the return trip the road was still closed and we had to reroute again.  The only good thing is that we stopped to eat at Angelo's Steak Pit, since we passed right by it.  The food was real good.  

On Wednesday we walked a little farther in the other direction.  After going for 2 miles we decided to turn around and head back.  Total trip 4 miles.  As you can see from the picture Amy walks a whole lot faster than I do.  She was constantly waiting on me.

Today I could barely walk at all.  My calves are hurting so bad that I can't even think about my knees.  We did walk a little down the beach and then turned around and went to sit by the pool.   Of course I had to try out the water.  Now we are resting in the condo.  We have also eaten at Runaway Island and Pineapple Willie's.  We are planning to eat about 4:00 at Sharky's so we can be back to watch Auburn play football.

Sept. 9-12

Raking rocks in the hot sun...

We have now cleared down to the scarecrow in the picture.  The rocks have to be removed so I can cut the grass with the lawn mower without tearing it up.  Some of the rocks are boulder size.  We rake the rocks into the front end loader on the tractor.  Then dump them on the other side of the driveway. Amy usually drives the tractor and I rake the rocks.  This project should be completed in a couple of days.

We now have a new visitor at our house.  As we were working out raking up the rocks in the yard this little puppy wanted to see what we were doing.  We tried to ignore her but that was not successful.  She is a cute puppy.  I have no idea how old she is, but she may have had a litter of puppies before.  She looks like just a puppy herself.  I have posted on facebook trying to find her owner, but so far no one has claimed her.  I do not have any close neighbors so I do not know where she may have come from.  She apparently is someones pet and may have been a house dog, but has not tried to come in the house yet.  

The last puppy that came to our house ended up staying for several years before she disappeared one day.  We never knew what happend to her, but she was gone one day when I came home from work.  Below is a picture of Lulu, our last dog.  She hated to be bathed, so we would put her in the truck bed to give her a bath.  It would take 2 people to give her a bath.  Here Jason is helping with her bath.  She turned out to be a great dog, and we miss her.  We still wonder if some thing got her in the woods or what might have happened to her.  Maybe she stayed for those years and then decided to move on.  Who knows.  There is a resemblance in the colors of the two dogs.  Could it be that both mutts had something in common?

   

Sept. 2 - 8

Where did the last week go?  Most of the day last Tuesday was spent with mom, taking her to the doctor then out to eat lunch.  The rest of the week is a blur.  One day was grass cutting.  Another was raking up rocks that are on top of the ground as a result from laying the water pipe.  On Friday, we had our air ducts cleaned.  I am not sure how often they need to be cleaned, but this was the first time in 38 years that it has been done.  Spare time was spent working another puzzle.  This one was much easier than the last one I worked.

Oh, by the way, we have been watching Mr. Turkey in the garden spot all week.  I suppose that he is cleaning up the seeds that were scattered when I cut down the rest of the beans and peas. I am not sure that we have been watching the same bird each day.  The beard on this one seems to be dragging the ground, otherwise they all seem to look alike.

My knees are much better than they have been and today I walked about 3.5 miles.  I am still having a pain on the back side of my left knee that makes sitting down and standing up painful.  It could be due to some swelling.  I have an appointment to see the doctor again in about 2 weeks. Not really sure what his remedy may be, but maybe he has a solution.  I am still unable to get down on my knees, and I really need to do some work that requires me to be on the floor.  I need to re-insulate a vent pipe under the house, and I also need to check on the telephone wiring under the house.  I have static in my telephone lines and need to check on what is causing it.  Amy just reminded me that I have more rocks to rake up so I need to get back to work.  More to come later.

Aug. 27 - Sept. 1

Safely home after a week in San Antonio, Texas.  Our trip to see Kale, Emily and Craig was great.  This was the perfect time to go as Emily has not started her new job, and Kale could missed his day care an stay home with us.  The week went by so fast that I never got a chance to write about it.  Most of my time was spent in an recliner.  Not too good for the knees, but very comfortable.  I should have been out getting some exercise, but it was too hot outside so we mostly stayed inside.  Their house is located a couple of blocks from a mall, and almost anything else you would want.  There is also a walking path close to their house, but we will have to check it out when the weather is cooler.  For this trip just spending time playing with Kale, and his dogs, Radley and Major (indoor labs) was worth the trip.  Next time we will do more sightseeing.  Today we are just glad to be home for a couple of weeks before our next adventure.