Leroy Feels Fine

Hello, How many appointments can he have? That is a question with a big answer. Age seems to be the cause of this as he does not show any other symptoms. He did the stress test, but we do not know the results. He does have a slight leak in a valve or two, but not out of the ordinary for his age. The fact of the matter is that the body has gone on for 76 years and it has a few things that are not working as if he were only 50 years. He is certainly getting a lot of reading done now. Although some of it has been audio books which he does not like as well. The eye doctor told him his eye and lens look good. He has reading glasses now and that has made a big improvement. His correction is not as strong as mine, both for near and far, so he manages much better than I did between the eye surgeries. I believe the difference was so great that my poor brain could not get it figured out. He is back to getting 10000 steps per day. He does admit to being a bit tired, but then he has always taken naps. We have only missed getting the eye drops in once. I am pleased, we have remembered so often. He can go back to normal activities so we will volunteer at church tomorrow. Mostly that is not too hard, but we do feel tired when finished. I have read The Women by Kristin Hannah and am now reading The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. They are both set in the Vietnam war. It makes me realize how little I really knew about that even though I was alive then and old enough to be aware. Paula

Labor Day Indeed

Hello, It seemed like a day to labor. We were out of bread and granola so I made granola in the morning and bread in the afternoon. We had been gifted with some tomatoes. Some of them were a bit fragile so it was necessary to take care of them. My rag bag was full and overflowing which means they needed to be washed.

Leroy helped me hang the rags and get them in and folded afterwards. I fold the rags because they take a lot less room. In the afternoon we went and picked okra and cucumbers in the community garden. Much of the okra had gotten too large. Six inches instead of the recommended length of 3 to 4 inches. We tossed quite a few in the compost. There were seven cucumbers and we managed to give away five of them as well as one bag of the okra. We did discuss the okra with the people who took them. I could not give them much advice about them except to look it up on the internet to learn about it. Leroy had cataract surgery last Wednesday. During that he went into some a-fib so we have been busy seeing a lot of health care people for consultation and testing. They are trying to get all the testing done before his next surgery. Not an easy task since they were booked out until October. But I think much of it is scheduled now. Leroy and I think it was because he was dehydrated. He had been told not to eat or drink after midnight. We are not up so late so he had something at 10:00 pm. It was 16 hours before the surgery and I think that was too long. He is feeling fine and his eye is healing well. We need to see the eye doctor, but the heart people scheduled an appointment at the same time so we will have to adjust. Paula

On A Trip

Hello, On our trip to share a cabin with friends on a lake, we stopped to visit Brian’s family. While there, I went to my favorite shoe store because I had been unable to find shoes that I wanted. It was on uncharacteristic move, but I bought two pair of sneakers. They both fit me and both were on clearance. It felt extravagant, but they should last twice as long when trading them off, right? At the cabin, it was great to catch up with friends. We seemed to have plenty to laugh about. That certainly rests the soul. Or maybe uplifts the soul. We visited a weaving shop that employes people with disabilities. We saw them cut off or finish three people’s work. They have a nice acclamation for them. That was uplifting. The next day we went to a pioneer village museum in the area. That was also quite fine. Even though we were on a lake, we were just content to sit by the water rather than experience it more personally. We all supplied some food and prepared a meal or two. Can you imagine, there was a lot of food so one day was basically left overs. Paula

Grumble, grumble

Hello, Leroy and I went to a shoe store this afternoon. We were both looking for new shoes. Leroy found a pair, on clearance even. They are exactly like the shoes he has on at this point. He wanted something a bit different, but the price convinced him that he could live with the choice. I tried on several pair. Nothing on clearance fit me. All of them felt a bit tight and I do not want to move up another size. I am already in a larger size than I thought I would ever wear. I did try on some men’s shoes, but was not thrilled with them either. Also, I was told at one time not to wear men’s shoes as our feet are a little different. We tried another store that also did not have any my size on clearance. Monday we will go to Brian’s house. My favorite shoe store is fairly close, so we will check that out. I realize this is a rich person problem as I think about the shoes we handed out to people at the church. Their choices and sizes were somewhat limited. But there was no complaining, but people were happy to get a new pair of shoes. It makes me think about when I was a girl and looking for new shoes. The store only had three girls’ shoes in my size and I did not really like any of them. The sales person went over to another and said disgustedly, “I can’t do a thing with her. See what you can do.” I picked out the more acceptable shoe and wore it until it wore out because that is what we did at my house. Paula

Poison Ivy

Hello, Leroy has poison ivy. He is not miserable, but not happy. I have not heard misery in his voice. He has had it for a week or so. We thought maybe it was bed bugs because he would wake up and say, “I have more itchy spots.” I never had any, but we looked for bed bugs anyway and were unsuccessful in that search. Yesterday he showed someone who has had poison ivy more than once and they said, “It looks exactly like that.” They recommended some soap and lotion. We also washed the bedding and dried it in the dryer so that it could not be contaminated again outside. He commented this morning, “no new spots.” He is disgusted to have this, but glad to finally know what it is and a solution. His new hearing aid needed to have a wire repaired. His night time appliance broke. He is having cataract surgery soon. Leroy feels like cares are pressing down on him. Last night we went to an excellent organ concert. That is uplifting. Leroy had a piece of pie afterwards and we spent some time visiting. Paula

Lending a Hand

Hello, On our walk to church this afternoon, I spotted a guy across the street in a wheelchair struggling with random hazards to forward motion. “Leroy, do you think we could help him?” Leroy went over and asked, “Where are you going?” “The library,” he replied. “You mean the downtown library?” I wondered. He said, “Yes.” Leroy than said, “We are going to First Lutheran and could push you that far.” This young man hesitated a little then said, “Yes I am getting tired and my hands are starting to hurt.” We visited on the way. He had googled the address for the library so knew where he was going. He was coming from a block farther away than we did and we are 1.6 miles from the library. We talked about him using the bus on his trip home. It stops right by the library and about a block from his home. He wondered, “Could I ride the bus?” “Yes, there are clips to hold the chair in place.” Leroy told him. “How would I get on the bus?” he then questioned. “The bus lowers,” I said. Leroy added, “And a ramp comes out.” At the church I asked, “Do you have water? I will look for some gloves for you to protect your hands.” He did not have water, so I got a bottle of water and with the help of someone else, looked for gloves. I had forgotten to check the size of his hands. We found a pair of leather work gloves that looked like some Leroy might have donated. We also gave him the granola bar we had brought for our snack. It felt good to be able to help some. We than cleaned the last two restrooms which was why we had come to church. We were both happy to be done, especially when more than one person commented that we looked tired. Paula

A Reputation

Hello, We have to keep walking to maintain our reputation of being walkers. Guess that makes sense, but some days I wonder. We drove to church. It was raining so hard before we started that we figured we would get to church and be soaked with the wind-blown rain. This would include having umbrellas and raincoats. More than one person asked if we had walked. They were ready to be impressed, but seemed to understand the better choice to drive. Maybe we encourage others to walk more in their daily lives. Seems that would be a good thing. We certainly did not have to water plants at church they looked to be soaked with the more than an inch of rain. This afternoon we did get some steps in the muggy heat as we delivered newsletters. It is not as far as going to church, but we both have over 5,000 steps now. I appreciate Leroy’s help, but I had such a set method and that does not work with two people. Sometimes it irritates me to change even if it is to my benefit. We deliver the newsletters a few blocks from our house. It is noticeable when one place seems to fall in weeds and no care. Leroy commented, “More places seem to be in disrepair.” Often, I pray for the people there as something not good could have changed in their life. Most of these people I have never seen as we just find a place to secure the paper and move on. It was five years ago that we experienced the derecho. It was quite the day and weeks for many of us. Are we more prepared for another? Maybe not, but we pay more attention to the weather warnings. Paula