Fishing Hurricane Lake

I went fresh water fishing for the first time in Florida and I caught the first fresh water fish ever. It was the only fish we caught today but it was a beautiful foot long large-mouth Bass. The fish has to be 18 inches or larger to keep so I released it—we weren’t going to keep any fish today anyway.

It takes about an hour to get to the lake and Lou and I got off around 6:30 to head up there. I used my GPS to guide us to the lake and it took us down a number of unpaved rural roads to get there. Florida does have its boondocks.

The lake itself is very nice. It’s big and has fishing piers and bathrooms on both the North and South sides. It was cool and windy today—not the best fishing weather, however we saw a number of good fish being caught. It is a fine fishing spot and it is also a nice place for us to kayak for a change of pace. Camping sites are available, too so maybe Penny and I can practice a kayak camping adventure close to home before we attempt a serious one to Apalachicola and beyond.

Lou and I spent most of the morning fiddling with our fishing gear and watching others catch fish. It wasn’t crowded. A guy there said it does get crowded on weekends. All the fisherpersons we saw were friendly and helpful. We had 3 people offer us some of their bait (we had our own) and Lou actually was given 3 plastic worms by a guy who was catching Bass on them. We finally got hungry and broke out lunch. I stood my pole up on a picnic table and as I was taking my first bite of ham sandwich the fish hit my line. It was fun bringing the fish in. It jumped out of the water and gave me a nice little fight. When I landed it I saw that it was hooked cleanly in the lip so it was easy to unhook and release. Lou said it was a pretty Bass. He said the ones up north aren’t the nice green color of the ones down here.

I actually caught 2 fish. The guy fishing next to us had 5 rods in the water an had to leave the pier for a while. He asked me to watch his lines. One of the lines got hit and I grabbed his rod and brought in the fish. A little (about the size of my hand) Bream.

We finished fishing about 2 o’clock. Lou didn’t catch anything. We then explored the other roads around the lake to see where else we might try. On the way back I also stopped at Bear Lake to check it out. It’s not as nice as Hurricane.

We think it would be better fishing if we used the boat next time so my next task is to check out the row boat and trolling motor. The next good weather day for fishing should be Thursday.

32 Hours, 997 Miles

We made a quick trip to Tampa to pick up Brother Lou. !6 hours of driving, 7 hours of sleep and 9 hours of visiting with Kathy and Joe. Kathy fixed a wonderful grouper dinner on Thursday night when we arrived. The visit with them was much too short.

The drive was uneventful both ways. There was unusually heavy traffic (for me at least) for the full length of I-75nheading North today. I had to concentrate on my driving and that type of driving wears on you much more rapidly. Added to the traffic was the fact that we had to stop every 40 – 50 minutes for Lou to have a potty break. He explained that his 64 year old bladder demanded that schedule. So we were able to walk around and stretch a lot on this trip and my back didn’t really have the opportunity to stiffen up.

There were a good number of motor homes on the road, too. They managed to mess up the traffic flow on both the 2-lane and 3-lane sections of the interstate. There are just too many people out there with too much money and too little brains. Of course, if I owned one of those monsters I’d probably have a different viewpoint – but I know I would drive the thing correctly and be considerate of my place in traffic flow.

We arrived home to find that our house was without power. A squirrel had inadvertently provided his body to short circuit the fuse from the power pole to the house. So we had no power and a roasted squirrel. I called Gulf power—an interesting call in that I only talked to a machine. Their system is good. Shortly after the automated system took my report of power out I received a call from a real person who obtained the details and said he was on his way. We headed out to Chik-Filet for dinner and when we returned the power was on. The power wasn’t out long enough for us to lose the food in the fridge so the squirrel decided to go to squirrly heaven only a few hours before we arrived at home.

We introduced Lou to Sonny’s Barbeque and Chik-Filet today. Tomorrow morning we will drag him along on our usual run to Waffle House, Lowe’s and grocery shopping. Last week Diane at Waffle House met Christy and Christian. This week it will be Lou. Heck, before too long we will probably be spending holidays with her.

Kitty Update—3 of the 5 kitties have shown up so far tonight. That’s not bad considering we were only gone one night. Brie is taking her time getting used to Lou being in the house. I think she will warm up to him by the time his 2-week stay is over.

Laundry and Taxes

They say there are 2 things you can’t escape in life – laundry and taxes—or something like that. Today I took them both on and conquered them. Laundry is done for another week and taxes for another year. We are getting a refund this year. After having to pay additional taxes for so many years it’s nice to get some of our money back now.

We started the day with a visit to Dr Woo. Penny’s tooth implant is now back in place. Then came laundry and more shop straightening. When I tired of that I decided to take on the Taxes. I use Turbotax. This year I found that buying the software from Pricegrabber saves a bunch of money. For some reason they have the software available for about half of the regular price.

KITTY UPDATE—All 5 cats are back. Everybody except Meredith showed up yesterday. The dogs were gone and the cats came right back. I just fed them tonight and all 5 were there. I wonder where they go for the rest of the time. Both the cats that were injured appear to be back to 100%.

Easter Sunday – Filling and Fulfilling

We went to early church today to beat the crowds. We couldn’t go to mass on base because C&C don’t have IDs. The mass at St Mary’s was uninspiring.

Once we were back home Penny began preparations for the Easter meal. I ran off with C&C to the Armament Museum to look at the airplanes. The building was closed for the holiday but there is plenty to see on the grounds.
Christian and an SR71 Blackbird
We stopped at the “little beach” on the way back home but didn’t stay long. It was a little cold and windy.

Back at home Penny was cooking ham, spinach casserole, sweet potato muggin, grands and apple salad. When we arrived back at the house it all smelled great.

We enjoyed a relaxed Easter meal and once again sat around the table chatting while the food settled. Once it settled some I made coffee and we had cherry pie a la mode and coffee—and chatted some more.

All too soon it was time for C&C to leave. Penny made them ham sandwiches for the road and sadly we bid adieu.

I enjoyed C&C’s visit. We had a simple agenda for this visit. We would do what we would do with the goal of just spending time together. We filled the days with comfortable activities, ate too much and generally just enjoyed the company. I was on the receiving end of a number of Christy’s patented warm hugs. We all did a lot of talking and laughing.

KITTY UPDATE—Actually this is an animal update. For the past 3 days we have had 2 dogs at the house—Finn and Stella. We kept Brie in our bedroom because she doesn’t like company. I couldn’t explain what was going on to the outside cats. I fixed up the outside feeder so the cats could still get the food but the dogs couldn’t. There was no way to prepare the cats.

Finn and Stella loved the back yard. They don’t have a fenced in yard in High Springs and they enjoyed the freedom they had to wander anywhere in our yard without a leash or the need to be watched. When C&C arrived on Thursday it was already dark. We released the hounds into the back yard and they both dashed around wildly scattering any cats that were out there and just running around enjoying themselves. We have a chain link fence between our yard and the schoolyard. For a dog that is not used to fences the fence is hard to see in the dark. Stella made a mad dash for the schoolyard and slammed into the fence in a full run. She didn’t hurt herself and it turned out to be something we could laugh at. I know how I feel when I walk into a newly cleaned glass door. Do you think a dog feels the same way?

I haven’t seen any of the outside cats since we released the dogs into the yard. Each evening after the dogs were in for the night I set out a plate of cat food. In the morning it was eaten. Something was being fed out there. I’m hoping it was our regulars.
After C&C left I watered the back yard to remove what I could of the doggie scent in the yard and set out some ham scraps to tempt the kitties back into the yard. It’s 7PM now and Marmalade has cleaned up the ham and is meowing for more. It usually takes a couple days for the kitty routine to settle in again after it gets disturbed. We will see how long it takes this go-round.

Shop, Eat, Walk, Relax

We began this Easter Saturday as we do most Saturday’s by going to Waffle House. We got our regular waitress (Dianne), whose daughter also works at that Waffle House and we had the opportunity to introduce our daughter to Dianne. After Waffle House we went to Lowe’s to check for bargains and then Wal-Mart to get some personal items for C&C and some fishing stuff for me to use when Louie is here.

After stopping back at the house we set off to Destin and Banana Bart’s. That’s a unique local gift shop that sits on Destin Harbor and carries an eclectic inventory of useless but interesting souvenir junk and T-shirts. This is a description of the place I found on line:

Banana Bart's Trading CompanyAn eclectic mix of whatnots and gifts with personality, Banana Bart's offers unique selections found nowhere else. Featuring Jimmy Buffet merchandise handcrafted folk ware from local artists. Overlooking the Harbor in a quaint old dockside home, Banana Bart's is sure to have the perfect treasure.

Next it was off to the Old Time Pottery. Christy has never been to one and wanted to see what they carried.

Lunch was once again at Harbordocks and once again it was delicious. We arrived there at 12:45 and were pleasantly surprised that it was not mobbed. It was full but we had no problem parking or getting a table. The cheese grits were to die for!

On the way home we stopped at the National Seashore to take the mandatory holiday beach walk. There were lots of people with the same idea. There were about a half-dozen people surf fishing. I didn’t see anything get caught.

Finally we went back to the house and relaxed for the rest of the day. We had a light dinner of black bean salsa and blue corn chips followed by coffee and conversation well into the evening.
Even with the light dinner we all were stuffed. We will try to duplicate the feeling on Easter Sunday when we enjoy Penny’s cooking.

Seaside, Seagrove, by the Seashore

We are enjoying a pleasant visit with Christy, Christian, Finn and Stella. Today we played tourist and drove along rt 30A east of Sandestin in Walton County. http://www.30a.com/

Our first stop was lunch at the Red Bar in Grayton Beach. This is one location that has changed very little over the years.


We had a great lunch and headed next to Seaside, the planned community where they filmed the Truman Show movie. We walked through Seaside, visited some of the shops, and took pictures of the architecture.


The last development we hit was Rosemary Beach. It is an interesting mix of building styles which Christian thought looked more European Than NW FL.

We did some shopping on the way back home and then relaxed at home for the evening.

This is Spring Break time here and there were lots of young people enjoying the beautiful first day of spring. There were lots of bicycles everywhere a good way to get around since 30A has a lengthy bike path connecting communities.

We have no specific plans for tomorrow – just spend time together. It is supposed to be beautiful again weatherwise.

Murphy’s law did get us twice today. First, it was cool enough last night to need the heat in the house. About 4 AM the pilot light on the furnace went out and so the burner would not light. Second was Penny popped off her new tooth implant as she was flossing this morning. Both our regular dentist and the specialist that put the post in place in her jaw were not open today. We ended up trying to temporarily cement it back in but it popped back out at lunch. She’s just going to leave it out until a professional can put it back on properly.

When we got back home I took the thermostat and pilot light assembly off the furnace and cleaned it up. There was a lot of carbon crud coating both the burner and the head of the thermostat. When I hooked it back up and turned the gas on the pilot light burned a nice gas flame blue. It had been spread out and yellow before the clean-up. The combination of the yellow “colder” burning flame and the build-up of carbon kept the thermostat from getting hot enough to register the pilot flame was working. Now it seems to be working again—but we may not need heat tonight.

The Prednisone Effect

Today was more housework interrupted by a lengthy doctor’s appointment for Penny. If you read her blog you can get the details of that.

I’m winding down on this round of Prednisone – I have 5 or 6 more days to take diminishing doses. I’ve reached the point where it has eased most of my pain. The pain is still there it is just dialed down about 6 decibels. My hands will still get quite sore by the end of the day but that too is not at full force.

I’m in the mellow-craving stage of the steroid. I have an overall sense of well being no matter what is going on. I mellowed through Penny’s ridiculously long doctor’s appointment. My mind is telling me all is well with the world—and wouldn’t a bowl of cereal taste good right now. I find I’m craving carbs, fats and sweets. It’s a good thing we don’t keep a lot of snack food in the house. It is weird how a chemical can affect the way you think. It makes one wonder, “Who’s in charge here anyway?” (Karen and Christy will recognize that statement).

KITTY UPDATE—It’s been windy for the past 3 days. Yesterday Marmalade spent the whole day sleeping on the cage on our back deck. Today there is no Marmalade but Bianca spent the whole day sleeping in the same spot.
Both cats that were injured appear to be doing well. Buzz is almost all healed and doesn’t appear to be in any pain. Bianca seems to be walking properly-no limp-and has started to jump back up on the picnic table when I go outside. She likes to make me reach to pet her before getting down and sitting in my lap.

Windy Monday St Patrick’s Day

Monday, laundry day, was a blustery warm day. I spent all day inside except for an efficient trip into town. I’m turning Mondays into catch-up days. While I cycle through loads of laundry I catch up on any paperwork or bills that I may have let slip. I’ve been keeping up with the house decently but during the storage clean up I did put a few tasks off.

Our trip into town covered the bank to deposit a slew of rebate checks, the post office to once again mail the CD of pictures from Jack’s 5th birthday party, Chic Fillet for lunch and Sam’s to replenish the things we buy from Sam’s.

I called my Aunt Margaret today. She’s about the same- except a little worse. She can’t walk without assistance now and is always in pain. She doesn’t leave her room much now because it is a big chore for her to go up and down the stairs. Someone has to walk in front of her and behind her. Her son is taking good care of her. She just hurts a lot and she now has a bad cold. She did say that at least she enjoys eating. I asked her what foods she liked and she said “anything”. I feel awkward calling her because the conversation is always the same. I can’t do or say anything to help her. The best I can do is keep calling. It is important to her that someone out there knows her.

Tomorrow is more of the same. Penny has a doctor’s appointment. It’s supposed to be very windy again. The good news is that the weather for Easter weekend looks good for C&C’s visit.

Sunday—Progress

Sunday was a beautiful day to be outside. I spent the AM inside and all afternoon outside. In our continuing celebration of Penny’s birth month breakfast was served in bed this morning. Then we spent a lazy couple of hours reading the Sunday paper and watching Sunday Morning. I almost have to force myself to take these relaxing times. I’m always thinking there is something more important that needs doing. Maybe someday I’ll get used to this retirement thing.

Penny and I are making good progress in getting the house rearranged and storage under control. So much so that after Easter weekend I may move on to getting my fishing stuff in shape before Louie gets here. Louie likes to fish and he just bought a fishing rod at a garage sale. I’ve never done any fresh water fishing here but I’m checking on-line and there are a couple of big lakes and rivers around and the lakes have fishing piers and fish attracters. We can get licenses “instantly” on-line. Given good luck I might even get my Jon boat back on the water. At least I can see a couple of fishing day trips here when Lou is with us.

I almost finished cleaning up the back yard. I want to be sure Fin and Stella can romp safely out there. I had a couple of packing crates broken up back there and some other junk that I got rid of. The next project is to set up a container garden this year. My attempted garden last year was a complete failure. The garden had competition from the new lawn, sprinkler system and the furniture for Sophie. I didn’t provide a proper soil mix and nothing grew right. This year I have a bunch of good-sized containers and will be careful about how I mix soil for them. I’m thinking I may enlist brother Lou in the garden setup task.

One thing I haven’t been doing is beach walking and we’ve had a number of good days. The house and yard were a higher priority. Now that they are getting under control I should start again. I took the whole week off from walking after the river run.

Sunday eve we tried to use the new web cam to chat with Tim and Karen. I messed up on my side so they couldn’t see us. We could see them and hear them. I think our next try will work OK.

5-Hours of Sleep

For the last few nights I’ve been waking up at 3 or 4AM and not being able to go back to sleep. This seems to be a side-effect of the Prednisone I’m taking for my current bout of back and hand pain . Insomnia is listed as a short term side-effect - short-term side-effects include insomnia, euphoria, and, rarely, mania. Long-term side-effects include Cushing's syndrome, weight gain, osteoporosis, glaucoma, type II diabetes mellitus, and depression upon withdrawal. Looking at the long term effects I understand why the doctor doesn’t prescribe the stuff for long periods. It does work well in easing pain.

We are sill rearranging the house and have made good progress. The weather has been ugly so working inside isn’t too bad. My outside storage work has progressed well. Now we are sorting, trashing and stashing things. We have a large family of medium sized stuffed animals—mainly teddy bears—that could use a good home. For now they are sitting on Christy’s bed. Only Johnny Bear is protected from eventually going to stuffed animal heaven.

Today being Saturday we will do our Waffle House breakfast. It then will be back to the room and storage shuffle.

KITTY UPDATE—All 5 cats have been showing up consistently. They are getting comfortable with us being home all day. It’s going to be interesting next weekend when we have 2 dogs taking over the backyard. The cats usually dissapear for those periods but maybe they can work out some compromise.

We had a visit by a big racoon yesterday. When I woke at 4AM and looked out there he was looking back at me. The cats were out there with him. I chased him off with the super soaker. I haven’t seen him this morning but I,m sure he will be back. He eats a lot, too. He’ll probably invite his family with him. At least my feeder is sturdy enough to handle their assalts.

Last night when I fed the cats it was wet on the back deck. For some reason all 4 “kittens” wanted to stand on my lap with their wet little paws. When I came inside I my jeans were soaked with kitty pawprints.

Well, it is time to awaken the wife and head out to Waffle House.

Good Morning !

2 Steps Back, One Giant Leap Forward

Back when we used to call it Red China that was one of their Cultural Revolution mottos. We are taking it to heart this week. We are rearranging what was formerly known as the kid’s bedrooms and the process is leaving the house a wreck for this week (hopefully only this week). It’s amazing how much stuff you can pile into a room over the years.

We are doing this in order for Penny to be able to work on her sewing when we have guests. My brother is going to be spending a couple of weeks with us before he goes on to his second We Care campaign in Abilene. He will be staying in what now serves as our guest room and Penny’s sewing room.

In doing this we are poking into the last area of the house that has remained undisturbed for about a decade. I need to ask Christy about all the little balled-up aluminum foil chocolate egg wrappers that were dropped behind her bed. Was she eating chocolate under the covers?

As with the rest of our storage re-do we should now put things back in such a manner that we now know where things are and can get them if we need them.

One would think with all the work we’ve done on storage that we would be seeing the old light at the end of the tunnel, but not so. I’ll be working on storage solutions throughout this year—at least. First it is digging through and organizing, throwing out what you can. We are still in this stage. Next comes going through all the containers, boxes and bins and deciding what is really needed and chucking the rest. We saved so much stuff just in case we or the kids could someday use it. Now we have a good idea of what we might use and how we are living our life. The problem is the job is so labor intensive. We haven’t even delved into the loft storage in the garage!

I did manage to strain my back moving furniture today. That’s not good. Now I have back and butt pain.

KITTY UPDATE—All 5 cats showed up the 2nd day we were back this time. This week I also found 1 or 2 of the cats hanging out in the back yard during the day as I’m working back there. As it gets warmer and the days get longer the cats seem to hang around more. Buzz seems to be healing OK. Bianca is still limping.


Tomorrow’s big event – haircut day!

19000+ Steps

That’s how much I walked today. The majority of those came with the 15K (9+ miles) River Run this morning. I was accompanied by my lovely daughter Christy who kept the pace up and my spirits too throughout the walk. It was a cold windy day with wind gusts reaching 30 -40 mph. The wind was especially brutal on the final mile when the walkers were passing over the Hart Bridge on the final mile of the race. We were running against the wind.

Apart from the discomfort of the long walk and today the cold wind, the race is an enjoyable event. People line the route for the whole 9 miles cheering on the runners and walkers. The route goes through downtown, some very nice neighborhoods and crosses the St John’s river on 2 large bridges. In the neighborhoods people come out in their yards and cheer. Some put out speakers with lively music. Others are cooking out. There was one house that was making waffles for walkers. We saw one walker get handed a beer by one of the picnickers. There were lots of people on the side with their dogs. Interspersed along the route were live bands playing good walking music.

Early in the race, on the first bridge, we caught up to a girl who was racing in a wheel chair. The bridge was steel grating and caused her chair to bounce and vibrate. She was yelling at her legs because they kept slipping off the footrests. It helped to put our sore legs into perspective. At least we can feel and control our legs. You have to give credit to someone who would push a wheel chair 9 miles.

I had on a Florida Gators shirt, Christy did too. I passed a little 4 year-old girl who was cheering on the runners. I thanked her for cheering as I passed her. She looked up and said “Go Gators”. They start the indoctrination young here.

There are water stations about every mile on the route where you can grab a paper cup of water as you go. After you drink you just drop the cup. The wind was blowing cups all over the place. I had visions of the police handing out littering tickets to the 15,000 race participants.

The finish line this year was inside the stadium with the finishers displayed on the jumbotron. The only problem was noone remembered to look at the jumbotron.

The reason we know how many steps we took is that Christy and I were wearing pedometers. Christy is having a competition at work for the group that takes the most steps. Today she made a big contribution.

Tim and Karen actually ran the race. Last year Karen walked with Christy and me and Sophia was just a bump in her belly.

We all felt better this year after the race. Last year I got pretty stiff. This year everyone tried to train better. I think only Christy was better prepared this year than last. The rest of us had one thing or another hinder our training.

Tim and Karen had to take their drum line to Orlando today after they got back from the race. Between that and the fact that Daylight Savings Time kicks in tonight they’re not getting to bed until 2AM. We are not going to early Mass tomorrow.

Penny had a lot of Sophie time this weekend. She took care of the kid while we were all off running around.

Tomorrow Penny and I head back home.

The Weather Outside is Frightful, But…

The day started ugly—weather-wise—and stayed that way. We started the day watching Sophia while Tim prepared for work and loaded his car with breakfast fixings. He was going to be cooking the eggs at breakfast at work.

After a light breakfast we made our usual Target run. Lots of bargains today but only a few we wanted. The rain was getting heavier as the morning progressed.

Next we went downtown and raided the main library. Tim let us borrow his card and we used the opportunity to restock our audio book supply. I played feed the parking meter and parking spot shuffle while at the library. The first parking space we had only had a 30-minute meter. After the 30 minutes I went back to hit it with another quarter when I noticed a spot across the street was open and it had an hour meter. So I moved over to that spot, fed the meter and went back to the library. It was still raining. We borrowed 8 books.

It was lunch time and a Friday in Lent so we got a tuna sub for lunch on the way back to the Feagins’s residence. The rain now was intense. When in the Sub shop we saw that there were tornado warnings. We got back safely and dashed inside through the pouring rain.

The remainder of the day is easy. We watch Sophia while T&K get haircuts and dinner, a little break from the baby. I make a cheese pizza run. We are expecting Christy to show up this evening, too. Fortunately the heavy weather looks like it is moving out.

Tomorrow we walk. We don’t know yet what the weather will do.

One thing about living in Florida, your car gets washed regularly by the heavy rainstorms. The CRV no longer has any bugs spattered on the windshield.

Busy But Not Rushed

A nice feature of retired life is being able to take a whole day to prepare for a trip. It is my CRV’s turn to go out of town. I spent the morning checking out both cars mechanically, cleaning them up (Penny’s CRV still had bugs on it from our last trip) and moving stuff from Penny’s to my CRV (back support for the driver’s seat and kitty platform for Brie to ride on). After a lunch break (warmed up some of Penny’s wonderful vegetable soup), I packed most of my stuff for the trip. In between I got a load of laundry done. Finally I took a 3-mile walk as final preparation for the up coming river walk. Now on the day of the trip we just load the car, gas it up and hit the road.

KITTY UPDATE—Some bad news in the cat department. Both Buzz and Bianca are sporting injuries on their hind ends. Buzz has a patch of hair missing just above its tail with what looks like a tooth bite in the center. Bianca has what looks like an abscess on the right rear leg. Something has been chasing them and hurting them. Buzz looks like it will heal OK. I got a better look at Bianca today and I think that it will be OK, too—although I’m not as confident about that. We think the culprit is Max, the cat next door. He comes over periodically and causes havoc. When we are home he stays away, but when we go out of town he tries to claim our backyard for himself. I can feed the cats when I’m gone but I can’t protect them from Max. The feeder is still going strong.

Penny’s Birthday

March Fourth – an easy date to remember – is Penny’s birthday. I treat her in a special manner almost every day but I try to make her feel even more special on this day.

Of course, the day started with breakfast in bed. It was nothing special, just her usual. I had an 8 AM doctors appointment to get to and she wasn’t in the mood for anything other than “food”.

The doctor gave me a shot of anti-inflammatory and put me on a regimen of prednisone and muscle relaxer. We shall see how that affects things.

Back to the birthday girl; I picked up a card at CVS when I filled my prescriptions and sent her an e-card I had made last night when I got home I asked her where she wanted to go for her lunch. She wanted Mexican but couldn’t think of someplace that had good Mexican anywhere around here. I thought there was a new place out past Sandestin and went on-line to check it out.

There it was, a “gourmet” Mexican restaurant in the Grand Boulevard development. That’s also where the P. F. Changs also is. The place is part of an up-scale chain named Cantina Laredo. http://www.cantinalaredo.com/

That’s where we went and it satisfied Penny completely. I’m sure she will describe the food for you. They are known for preparing your guacamole appetizer at your table. We got it, they did and it was yummy.

I was pleased that I found the place. Penny was defaulting to a second choice that she knew I would enjoy (That’s Penny for you). Now she has someplace to go and enjoy the Mexican food.

Dinner tonight will be provided by our friends Ben & Jerry. Coffee Heath Bar Crunch for Penny, Cherry Garcia for me. Dessert for dinner is our normal finish to special days.

For one day we throw our diets and relax and enjoy. H-m-m-m, does that mean I have to eat all of the Ben & Jerry’s today?

Walk 5 Miles In My Shoes

I put my theory to the test yesterday that walking would not hurt my butt pain and might even help. I got in a 5-½ mile walk around the big block made by Mooney, Racetrack and Beal St. It was a beautiful spring day that started with a celebration of Penny’s birthday hosted by her friend Pam. I had a lot of good eating to walk off after that!

This morning I found my butt was actually slightly better than yesterday. If walking was bad for it I would have trouble getting up. So the prognosis for the River Run is good. It hurts a little to walk but I know I can go the distance and not put myself in a wheel chair. I can see myself walking with a cane in the future if this butt thing comes back and doesn’t go away.

I see the Doctor tomorrow for my 6-month check-up. He’s never been able to help this butt thing but maybe he can ease it a little. Meanwhile, the thumbs are slowly easing up. I haven’t really tested them yet and the little work I have done has resulted in more pain by the end of the day. It just isn’t at the level it was a couple of weeks ago. I’ll be doing laundry today, a big thumb stressor and trying to finish up in the shed.

The good new about these sources of pain is that they don’t hurt when I’m not using the affected muscles. It doesn’t interfere with sleep or sitting (unless I sit for a long time). When my shoulders were bad they hurt enough to wake me up. (The glass is half-full)