Chauffeur

Well day two of retirement and I can't imagine it getting any better than this. I find myself relaxing more and not worrying about anything. I finished another book today and will probably get another one done in a day or two, not that I am neglecting anything else, or Sarah, but I find myself enjoying it more and I am not in a "hurry" to finish it.

I am now the official Chauffeur of Sarah Jane, who would have thought such a thing could happen. I am happy to report her foot is healing and the surgeon said she should wear the boot and push gradual pressure on it. So we are thankful for that piece of good news.

Yesterday was spent going to doctors, today to relaxing. I received the hard drive I ordered to load all of the pictures I have onto it. I also got that job done, all pictures are loaded for them and they can do what they want with them.

Nothing else is going on today, just enjoying the time we have together.

Dreams Do Come True

Retirement Is Here

Friday was the day, I officially retired. It is a great feeling somewhat weird, I was thinking on Friday how I was going to get Sarah to the two doctor appointments she has tomorrow, then it hit me I will be retired I don’t have to figure out how I am going to do it, I will just be able to do it. So tomorrow I get to be a chauffeur and I will love it.

I won’t miss going to work; I will miss the people, not working. Marsh is a good place to work, all in all I am glad to have had the opportunity to be a member of the Marsh family. With that said, I am totally glad I am retired. I have worked a long time and I am looking forward to not having to get up in the morning and having to go to work.

This week I will go through my clothes and start bagging up the clothes I don’t want any longer and take them to an organization where they will be put to good use.

My biggest job right now is trying to keep Sarah off her left foot, she uses crutches but I have to watch her because she keeps looking around while using the crutches and I am afraid she will stumble over something. Hopefully tomorrow we will know what she will have to do or have done so she can get healed up.

Nothing planned for the rest of the week, so we will have to see what comes along. For now though, WE ARE RETIRED.

Dreams Do Come True.

Changes In Our Plans

It finally stopped raining last wee about Thursday and cleared up so we had a great weekend. The weekend was made even better by the fact it was Emily’s fourth birthday and we had to be there for it. We had a great time being there and watching Emily ride her new bicycle, she does pretty well with it. It was fun to watch her open her gifts and see the expression on her face when it was clothes and not toys, I believe we all did that at one time or other in our lives. Our great nephew Rusty went with us and he brought some sidewalk chalk with him so he showed the girls how to draw pictures in the driveway. All in all it was a great time.

Sunday was a beautiful day, light winds, sunshine, blue skies; it was the perfect summer day. Orren and Norma Cairo, friends of mine for forty years, came out and we grilled and had a great visit. It was the first time they had seen the camper and they thought it was nice. We sat outside most of the time except when we ate; we did that inside the camper, but with the breeze and the awning being down it was very comfortable.

Monday I had my annual physical at the VA and all went pretty well. Some numbers were up by a point or two but nothing to worry about according to the doctor, except for my blood pressure, it is up a bit so I have a blood pressure monitor so I can take my own blood pressure a couple times per week. I believe it to be up due to my retiring and all the other things going on now. Anyway, I will monitor it and if it continues to rise or goes off the chart I will call the doctor and get something for it.

Yesterday it was back to work we had five tours scheduled but only had to give three, they combined three into one when not everyone showed up for it. Then about 1:30 Sarah calls me and tells me she fell at work and that her foot was hurting and she was going to the doctor to have it checked. Luckily it was her left foot because she had the car and could drive herself to the doctor. She was able to get in and they took an x-ray and found she had broken a bone on outside of the side of her left foot. The doctor gave her a prescription for a boot so she came and picked me up and we went to get it. The foot was swelling, which was to be expected, so we iced it all night and she kept it elevated. Now she has to she the company doctor to see what they advise. Sarah’s doctor said it could heal on it’s own in about 8 wks or with surgery 6wks. We’ll see what gives, I believe we should go a couple of weeks and she how it is doing and then decide if it will require surgery.

So today I had to make some adjustments to our plans. I hope we can stay where we are now without moving for another month or so, if we can’t I am not sure what we will do because we have the holiday weekend coming up. I canceled the KOA reservations in Omaha, but I will still take the camper to the factory on the 1^st but instead of staying the night in Omaha I will drive straight through to Smith Center. Most likely now instead of taking the camper to Wisconsin we will drive up and stay in a motel, unless Sarah gets a release by mid September. We’ll see, I guess this is the nice thing about retirement you have choices to make but none of them have to be etched in stone.

Going to the Iowa State Fair is out, Sarah couldn’t do the walking and trying to get around in the crowd would not be very easy either, so we will stay away for this year. I have a few things I can do at the camper so we will just enjoy the weekend.

Dreams Do Come True  -  but sometimes not the way we totally want them to be.

To Much Water

What a week we have had. Rain on Sunday, rain on Monday, rain on Tuesday and they are forecasting more rain on Friday. We have spent two of the last three nights in the clubhouse because of damaging winds being forecasted. Sunday night we received five inches of rain in the campground according to a neighbor’s rain gauge. It is hot, mid 90’s, during the day with high humidity making the heat index in the triple digits.

Last night we headed for the clubhouse about 10:15 pm and stayed until about midnight. We went back to the camper and the minute we got inside the weather radio went off with another severe thunderstorm warning I told Sarah I am staying and I went to bed. About one o’clock I still was asleep and the camper was a rocking quite a bit, I don’t believe we had 60 mph winds, so I got up and brought up the weather channel on the computer and according to it the storms would pass us by one thirty, so I went back to bed and woke up at 5:40 am.

Another night of little sleep, I suppose when we retire the storms won’t be any less intrusive but at least we will be able to take a nap.

Time for bed - Dreams Do Come True

HOT and more HOT

Friday, August 6, 2010

This past week has been interesting; actually it all began last Friday when I took a sick day to go to see the doctor at the VA. I went into the emergency room, sort of like sick call, and they did the vitals and preliminary workup and sent me over to the clinic to see my doctor. I knew I might not get to see the doctor but I wanted to try anyway. I have had a pain in the middle of my back and also in my shoulder, neck and arm. I can’t raise my arm very far without a lot of pain and certain movements give me excruciating pain.

As it turns out, my doctor didn’t have time to see me but I got an appointment for Tuesday. I had gotten up Friday with a sore throat also. By Monday my throat was sore enough I decided I was going to stay home, so I called in sick. I had 64 hours of sick time left for the year so I figured I might as well use some of it. I plan on getting as much of my doctor visits done before I retire.

Tuesday Sarah had her physical scheduled so she dropped me at the VA and she went to her appointment. I saw the doctor, had an x-ray on my shoulder and got some medicines. Then Sarah picked me up and we went to our appointment to make applications for health insurance for Sarah and Medicare Supplement for me. With that done we got something to eat, Hy-Vee was grilling hamburgers and so we bought a couple and sat at a picnic table, in the shade because it was hot out, the burgers were very good. After we ate we went to Sarah’s next appointment to get a mammogram. After that was finished we went home.

Of course three fourths of the way home I remembered the books I had in the trunk for my brother Jerry, I still have them. I will try to get hold of him tomorrow.

Yesterday the doctor calls and says I have arthritis in the shoulder and a bad rotator cup. So I have asked to see an orthopedic doctor to see what my options are. I don’t know if surgery would be called for but if so I want to wait until next spring after we would get back from down South. I’ll just have to wait and see what the doctor can tell me.

Sunday August 8, 2010

It is hot today, 95 and a bit humid, I was sitting outside and, I like the heat or use to, and it became unbearable. So I thought I would come in and finish my entry.

Yesterday was a nice day; we got quite a bit done. We drove over to Cynthia’s to pick up some mail she had for us. We have put her address down on our medical insurance applications; we did this so we could stay Iowa residents for the time being.

Then we drove out to the West Des Moines KOA to visit with the owners, Dave and Patricia Kimmel. Sandy, one of the workampers, was in the office I asked for Dave and she said he was in the house. So we visited, she and a friend have a Jayco and this is her first workamping experience. She was a lot of fun to talk with, she offered to call Dave but I didn’t want to disturb him, I thought I would leave one of our cards and contact him later. I know what it is like owning a business your day never ends. We were getting ready to leave and Dave came in so we spent some time talking with him. A couple of times in the past when we camped there he said to call him if we wanted to workamp for him. So I reminded him of that and said if he had an opening next year we would like to discuss it with him. He didn’t know if he would have but he has our card and I will get with him in January to see if anything has opened up.

We drove back to Des Moines and went to Sam’s Club so Sarah could get her prescription filled and I found a table I wanted for the camper. It is a four footer that folds into two feet square and has three adjustable heights. I believe it will work out great for us.

Then we drove up to Nevada to see Tiffany and Alexa, Matt was working. I had State Fair tickets I wanted to give her, they missed out on Adventureland and Tiffany said they hadn’t been to the Fair for quite a while so I thought I would get them tickets for it and some cash to cover food etc.
Since I was hungry we went to McDonalds and had a late lunch. I haven’t been feeling all that great so we didn’t stay long and was home by three, I took a nap and felt a bit better after it. We went to church at 5:30 and then to Hy-Vee, they had the buffet for $4.99, I ate too much.

Today we had a goal of cleaning the camper; I had noticed a buildup of dirt on the filters for the return air of the air conditioner and on the bathroom vent. So I started with the bathroom vent. It took me a few minutes to figure out how the cover comes off, you pull it down and it has two pieces of spring like wire you squeeze together and off it comes. It was filthy so I cleaned it up. I started cleaning the rest of the fan housing and decided I needed to unplug the electrical plug, it is one of those plugs you will see on radios and other electronic equipment, I should have taken pictures but I was in no mood. After unplugging the wires I discovered I couldn’t get them reconnected the receptacle kept retreating into the plastic housing and there was no way to get a finger in to hold it in place while pushing the male end into the female end. So I had the bright idea of unscrewing the housing from the ceiling to see if there was a way to get to the wires from above. I began unscrewing the housing and the screws came out but the housing stayed up there, so I became more and more frustrated until this piece of plastic fell out. Then I looked at it closer and figured out what was holding the housing in the ceiling. It seems the pieces of plastic have the screw in them and they are held against the housing until the screw is tightened then they turn 90 degrees and as you tighten the screw this plastic piece pulls the housing tighter against the ceiling. I was finally able to get the plug reattached and the housing back up and the cover on everything after about an hour and a half. Needless to say the cover is the only thing that will get a good cleaning in the future.

We have Skype but have never used it until today. Robert called and said get on line so we did and we were able to watch Mason and Madyson play. It was so cool. We will have to get Daniel up and running on that.

I tried to sit outside with Sarah but it was too hot, I did make it for a half hour and then I had to come inside. Here are a couple pictures of the camper and Sarah.Friday, August 6, 2010

This past week has been interesting; actually it all began last Friday when I took a sick day to go to see the doctor at the VA. I went into the emergency room, sort of like sick call, and they did the vitals and preliminary workup and sent me over to the clinic to see my doctor. I knew I might not get to see the doctor but I wanted to try anyway. I have had a pain in the middle of my back and also in my shoulder, neck and arm. I can’t raise my arm very far without a lot of pain and certain movements give me excruciating pain.

As it turns out, my doctor didn’t have time to see me but I got an appointment for Tuesday. I had gotten up Friday with a sore throat also. By Monday my throat was sore enough I decided I was going to stay home, so I called in sick. I had 64 hours of sick time left for the year so I figured I might as well use some of it. I plan on getting as much of my doctor visits done before I retire.

Tuesday Sarah had her physical scheduled so she dropped me at the VA and she went to her appointment. I saw the doctor, had an x-ray on my shoulder and got some medicines. Then Sarah picked me up and we went to our appointment to make applications for health insurance for Sarah and Medicare Supplement for me. With that done we got something to eat, Hy-Vee was grilling hamburgers and so we bought a couple and sat at a picnic table, in the shade because it was hot out, the burgers were very good. After we ate we went to Sarah’s next appointment to get a mammogram. After that was finished we went home.

Of course three fourths of the way home I remembered the books I had in the trunk for my brother Jerry, I still have them. I will try to get hold of him tomorrow.

Yesterday the doctor calls and says I have arthritis in the shoulder and a bad rotator cup. So I have asked to see an orthopedic doctor to see what my options are. I don’t know if surgery would be called for but if so I want to wait until next spring after we would get back from down South. I’ll just have to wait and see what the doctor can tell me.

Sunday August 8, 2010

It is hot today, 95 and a bit humid, I was sitting outside and, I like the heat or use to, and it became unbearable. So I thought I would come in and finish my entry.

Yesterday was a nice day; we got quite a bit done. We drove over to Cynthia’s to pick up some mail she had for us. We have put her address down on our medical insurance applications; we did this so we could stay Iowa residents for the time being.

Then we drove out to the West Des Moines KOA to visit with the owners, Dave and Patricia Kimmel. Sandy, one of the workampers, was in the office I asked for Dave and she said he was in the house. So we visited, she and a friend have a Jayco and this is her first workamping experience. She was a lot of fun to talk with, she offered to call Dave but I didn’t want to disturb him, I thought I would leave one of our cards and contact him later. I know what it is like owning a business your day never ends. We were getting ready to leave and Dave came in so we spent some time talking with him. A couple of times in the past when we camped there he said to call him if we wanted to workamp for him. So I reminded him of that and said if he had an opening next year we would like to discuss it with him. He didn’t know if he would have but he has our card and I will get with him in January to see if anything has opened up.

We drove back to Des Moines and went to Sam’s Club so Sarah could get her prescription filled and I found a table I wanted for the camper. It is a four footer that folds into two feet square and has three adjustable heights.  I believe it will work out great for us.

Then we drove up to Nevada to see Tiffany and Alexa, Matt was working. I had State Fair tickets I wanted to give her, they missed out on Adventureland and Tiffany said they hadn’t been to the Fair for quite a while so I thought I would get them tickets for it and some cash to cover food etc.

Since I was hungry we went to McDonalds and had a late lunch. I haven’t been feeling all that great so we didn’t stay long and was home by three, I took a nap and felt a bit better after it. We went to church at 5:30 and then to Hy-Vee, they had the buffet for $4.99, I ate too much.

Today we had a goal of cleaning the camper; I had noticed a buildup of dirt on the filters for the return air of the air conditioner and on the bathroom vent. So I started with the bathroom vent. It took me a few minutes to figure out how the cover comes off, you pull it down and it has two pieces of spring like wire you squeeze together and off it comes. It was filthy so I cleaned it up. I started cleaning the rest of the fan housing and decided I needed to unplug the electrical plug, it is one of those plugs you will see on radios and other electronic equipment, I should have taken pictures but I was in no mood. After unplugging the wires I discovered I couldn’t get them reconnected the receptacle kept retreating into the plastic housing and there was no way to get a finger in to hold it in place while pushing the male end into the female end. So I had the bright idea of unscrewing the housing from the ceiling to see if there was a way to get to the wires from above. I began unscrewing the housing and the screws came out but the housing stayed up there, so I became more and more frustrated until this piece of plastic fell out. Then I looked at it closer and figured out what was holding the housing in the ceiling. It seems the pieces of plastic have the screw in them and they are held against the housing until the screw is tightened then they turn 90 degrees and as you tighten the screw this plastic piece pulls the housing tighter against the ceiling. I was finally able to get the plug reattached and the housing back up and the cover on everything after about an hour and a half. Needless to say the cover is the only thing that will get a good cleaning in the future.

We have Skype but have never used it until today. Robert called and said get on line so we did and we were able to watch Mason and Madyson play. It was so cool. We will have to get Daniel up and running on that.

I tried to sit outside with Sarah but it was too hot, I did make it for a half hour and then I had to come inside. Here are a couple pictures of the camper and Sarah.

A side shot of camper with Sarah sitting in her chair reading.

This is  a good shot of the front of the camper with my flag blowing in the breeze. Our neighbor Dick gave the flag to me for my retirement.

Here she is the Mrs. of our castle. She didn't like the other picture I took but ok'd this one.

Well, that about does it for today. We'll see what lies ahead in the week to come because,

Dreams Do Come True