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