October 11 - 24

     I cannot believe that it has been 2 weeks since my last post.  Time passes so fast that I need to take time out to enjoy it more.  After spending one week in Chantilly, Virginia and this past week at home, I am wondering where the time went.  We really enjoyed our visit with grandkids at Katy and Scott's house.  They were laying laminated hardwood flooring during the first part of the week and then adding the trim after the flooring was down.  I still have pain when getting on my knees, so all I could do to help was give advice and operate a saw.  By the time we left, I am sure that Scott had enough advice from me to last at least until they come visit after Christmas.  Katy is a perfectionist and quickly pointed out any flaw she saw.  Of course that meant redoing several things.  I think she was doing the right thing since she wanted a professional job from amateurs.  Also we celebrated Cooper and Kinsley's birthday while we were there.  Cooper turned 3 and Kinsley will be 6 next month.  We celebrate both their birthdays together so we can do it in one visit.  It is just a little far for us to make monthly trips to Virginia.  

     We returned home on Sunday.  Amy's mom, GoGo, was taken to live at Amy's brother's house.  She had fallen twice on Saturday and had to get a neighbor to help her off the floor.  She has always been on the "go", hence her nickname GoGo, but now age has caught up to her and she has lost her mobility.  For now she will live in Birmingham instead of her home in Talladega.  Amy made two trips to see her one on Tuesday and one on Thursday.  I went with her on Thursday, and we will visit again on Sunday.  

     Also on Tuesday I went to a breakfast meeting at the Cracker Barrell in Oxford.  For the past couple of months a group of us (4) get together to talk about old times.  We were friends in high school, church, and college.  The group includes Bobby Slay, Jimmy Harris, Hal Phillips and myself.  We all have ties to Auburn.  Bobby and I roomed together our Freshman year.  We have a lot of good memories from those years.  Jimmy's parents and my parents were very close friends and used to take vacations together.  Next month we will meet for lunch at the Ark, a fish restaurant between Lincoln and Riverside.   

     Jason and I are planning a camping trip together.  Since my knees are not ready for long hikes we will be car camping at Vogel State Park in north Georgia.  We will pitch our tents about 1500 feet from the parking lot.  We will do some short hikes, without packs, so I can test out the knees.  I am looking forward to that experience.  I hope the weather cooperates with us to make it more enjoyable.

Our trip is planned for November 7, 8 and 9.  I get excited just thinking about it.  More to come later.

October 5 - 10

The past few days seem to be flying by.  The highlight of Monday was my bi-annual appointment with my kidney doctor.  Every six months I go for a check up as a precaution due to my diabetes.  Each time the doctor says everything is stable, come back in 6 months.  I have decided to increase my walking.  On Tuesday I walked 4 miles.  On Wednesday, 6.5 miles.  I decided to take it easy on Thursday and only walked a little over 2 miles (4 laps at the park).  I thought I might try the knees with a slow jog so I jogged for one-half a lap.  I need to say that my slow jog is about walking speed for a normal person.  I did have some swelling after that and sitting in church for 5 hours Thursday night really caused the legs to tighten up.  This morning the effects were not that bad, but after the 12 hour ride to visit the grandkids, getting out of the car was quite painful.  The pain is not in the knees, but tendonitus.  The pain will gradually go away with exercise I hope.

Sept 25 - Oct. 4

     I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in a while but I will try to catch up this past week.  For the past three days we have our door guarded by this creature. Just thought I would post this picture.

He seems content to just move around the door and I suppose he is eating bugs that move toward the light shinning through the windows at night.
     I have continued walking 3 - 4 miles at least every other day.  On Monday I went back to the doctor.   He said that the pain that I have is tendonitus and prescribed an anti-inflamatory medicine and said that I needed to lose some weight.  Thinking I was going to begin my diet on Tuesday, Amy and I stopped for Krispy Kreme donuts,  Then coming back through Pell City, we decided to get a Blizzard at the new DQ.  On Tuesday I walked 3 miles and decided to spend the afternoon cutting grass.  On Wednesday, after walking 4 miles I spent the afternoon using the weedeater.  Slightly overdid it and had a lot of pain.
     On Thursday mom and I rode to Woodstock, Ga to visit with my brother and his wife.  He will begin radiation and chemo on another inoperable tumor next week.  The goal will be to shrink this tumor.  This has been the source of his back pain for about a year, but was just discovered in a scan a couple of weeks ago.  How it was missed I don't know.  It is about the size of a golf ball.  We had a really good visit and enjoyed sitting on their porch watching the birds feeding all afternoon.
     Expected to rest up on Friday, but that did not happen.  Amy went in to check on her mother who apparently had a slight stroke.  She e  nded up spending most of the day taking her to the doctor.  Then my mom called because she was having a dizzy spell and could not drive home from the hairdresser.  Both are better today.  Now to watch some football.