New Horizons Tour

The highlight of our day today was a visit to a New Horizons fifth wheel on view in our park, the prototype for their new wide-body Majestic line. The owners of the company are touring various RV shows and parks to show off their new model. It was wowing everyone who saw it today, including us. As Ken said, we've seen a lot of RVs described as "luxurious," but this one actually deserves the adjective.

The Majestic was featured recently on the cover of Trailer Life Magazine. Of course, as the article points out, the msrp rivals that of many residential homes, so it better have lots of luxury features and construction, and it does. Can you tell we were impressed?


But when we got back home, we had to admit that we really like our Excel a lot and have no plans to replace it anytime soon.

We were very disappointed to hear that the Supreme Court had struck down campaign financing limits on corporations today. We're afraid that corporate money, which already has a huge influence through lobbying, will have a disproportionate effect on future elections. None of this will be to the benefit of the people--at least those who are not CEOs and top execs of corporations.

I made cabbage soup for lunch, and Ken pronounced it delicious after admitting that he'd had his doubts when he saw how much cabbage was going into the mix.

Tomorrow we'll have to get up early in the morning to go back to the clinic to get the results of my tests. I am definitely feeling much better, but not completely well yet.
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Happy Birthday, Edward!

Ed has reached ultimate wisdom today--he's "42" and so he knows the answer to "Life, the Universe, and Everything." He's about to become a father again, and find out that life is an imponderable mystery wrapped up in a baby.

Not much going today. We slept in, so we had our oatmeal for "brunch." Then we did our laundry. We went to the Plus Laundry on Exp. 83, and decided that it's much preferable to the park laundry, partly because it has front loading washers and partly because it has commercial dryers that you can add a quarter at a time to (instead of putting $1.25 in and hoping the clothes get dry).

This evening we joined Gary and Mary Ann and their neighbors, Terry and Anna, at the clubhouse for "Bentsen Palm Village Has Talent." It had some hilarious moments, but after a couple of hours, Ken had to get up and walk around, so we came home.

As usual, we walked around the park a few times today. On our last walk we came upon a brand new shiny New Horizons just being set up, with a large sign announcing its presence. It's here as a model, and we hope to tour it in the next day or two. We talked with Karen, who said they had driven it from Miami and had 12 appointments already set up to give tours.
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Dancing

I'm not one to let a little discomfort get in the way of square dancing, but when I woke up this morning suffering from some vertigo again, I did wonder whether I'd be able to dance with Jean and Joe Saltel's dance today. The vertigo was definitely better than yesterday, and I thought that I'd improve with time spent upright, and that's exactly what happened. Ken drove to the dance, but by the end I felt up to driving home.

We stopped at the store on our way home for food and decided to look at water filter options. We bought a PUR unit for the kitchen faucet, which will be much more convenient than having a pitcher on the counter. However, we had bought a supply of filter cartridges for the pitcher, so we'll use those first before starting to use the PUR.

When we visited Yosemite last April, we stayed at an Escapees COOP park called Park of the Sierras. We were so taken by the beauty of the area and of the park that we put down a deposit to get on the waiting list to buy in, thinking that it would be a couple of years before our name came up. However we got a message a few days ago that we are #16 on the list. We had been talking recently about the logistics of owning property near Yosemite and the unlikelihood that we would spend enough time there to make it advantageous to be owners rather than renters when we visit the area. We've decided to withdraw our name and request a refund of our deposit. Someday we might find ourselves wanting to own something, but for now we are enjoying being footloose and fancy free.

The produce guy was in the park this afternoon as usual, and I stocked up on veggies and a delicious cored pineapple.
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Scary Day

I woke up early this morning with a really weird disorienting feeling of whirling around, and when I went to the bathroom, I felt like I was going to fall. I went back to bed and to sleep, hoping that when I woke up all would be well. It wasn't. Either I was spinning or the room was spinning, and I promptly threw up my morning coffee. As you can imagine, that's not a comfortable feeling. I was still hoping it would go away, but I (of course) googled the symptoms, found that what I was experiencing was vertigo, and that I should see a doctor.

So we headed to the computer to find out which internists in our area accept our insurance and called the first one. They said I could come in tomorrow morning at 9. The second one said come in right away. We found ourselves at the Castrillon Family Clinic, where we were the only Anglos among a large group of people waiting to get in. Fortunately the intake person asked for us to be expedited, so I got in pretty quickly. I was a bit surprised to have a Physician's Assistant (Erika Gonzalez) come in to check me out. She said something along the lines of the doctor has a very heavy accent and likes her to interpret when he sees patients who don't speak Spanish.

I never did see the doctor, but the PA was very nice and seemed quite competent. She ordered several tests. I had blood work, a urinalysis, a VNG (Videonystagmography) test, hearing and other ear tests, allergy tests, and sinus x-rays. I'll get the results of those tests on Friday, but today she said that I had fluid buildup and a sinus infection. I am also allergic to several trees, lots of animals, and molds, but the reactions weren't severe, so they're apparently mild allergies. I got prescriptions for Singulair and a Z-Pak, and samples of Sibelium (flunarizine hydrochloride) to take and instructions to use Afrin nasal spray for three days. The diagnosis was Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), which doesn't sound nearly as scary as stroke or brain tumor 8-)

Meanwhile I was feeling better, and the PA suggested that it was because I had been upright for a while and that would relieve the pressure . . . By the time we got home, I figured I was feeling well enough to go to the C-1 lesson. Ken went too, and our appearance really surprised Doris and Bob, who had happened to call while we were at the clinic. Actually, it rather surprised me too. Ken did very well at the lesson. He has danced most of the early C-1 calls before, so only a few were new. He attended Randy's session before his surgery, and Romney and Darryl have called lots of C-1 directionally.

Today was a really beautiful day, with blue sky and sunshine, but my encounter with vertigo made me aware of how contingent all our plans are.

I am still feeling a bit odd, so I'm a bit worried about lying down to sleep. I may end up in the recliner tonight.
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Beautiful Day

Today was a lovely day, warm and inviting, with a blue sky stippled with white clouds here and there. I rode with Jan and Steve to Tropic Star for Joe Saltel's C-1 class. On the way I got to eat a really delicious tangelo fresh from their tree, and they gave me a bag to take home. There's nothing like tree ripened fruit.

There were 29 couples today. Chris recruited an angel from the park to be my partner--thanks, Jack! Darryl and Decah were dancing with the class, and Darryl gave me one of their cards, with their blog url: http://hogtrails.blogspot.com/ Jeff might enjoy some of their adventures.

Darryl and Decah Lipscomb

I talked with Julie this evening. On top of everything else she has a sinus infection, so now she is getting hardly any sleep at all. She'll be the first new mother in history to get more sleep after the baby is born! Her appointment this week is Tuesday, and she's hoping to convince her doctor that 37 weeks sounds like a good time for this baby to be born.

Ken took this shot on a walk in our park:

Ken said today that he thinks he may be able to handle C-1 lessons earlier than he had originally thought. We talked about the calls that have been taught so far. He has danced many of them already, so he won't have too much catching up to do.
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More C-1

I drove over to Green Gate Grove to Steve and Jan's place this morning and rode with them to La Hacienda for C-1 class. Today was the first "official" class for C-1, according to Darryl Lipscomb. The group just keeps getting larger every class--this time there were 31 couples, and an angel couple was called to make the 8 squares. I danced with Lila, who helps Decah at the door. Darryl is an excellent teacher. His explanations were clear and very helpful, and he offered directions and tips in digestible bits just as we were ready for them.

We went out to Camping World today to pick up a water pressure gauge. We wanted to put more pressure on the plumbing to be sure that we wouldn't have a leak. When we put the gauge in the line after our cheap plastic water pressure regulator, it showed only 35 lbs.--very wimpy. We tossed the regulator. Without the regulator, the gauge showed 50 lbs., which should be safe for RV plumbing, so we hooked up the water without a regulator. So far all is well--no leaks and we have good water pressure for the first time in months. Woohoo!

Ken and I have been taking regular walks around the park. Tonight the sky was clear enough to see the stars, so I got out my Droid and started the Google Sky program. It's a technological marvel--just hold it up to the sky in any direction and it shows the stars, planets, and constellations right where you're facing. Wow!




I had a butternut squash that's been in the basket for a while now, so I took it out planning to make soup, but then I decided to do something else this time. So I peeled the squash and cut it in 3/4" dice (very approximately). I roasted it drizzled with some olive oil. Then I put half in the fridge and kept the other half out to make Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette (a Barefoot Contessa recipe that Terri introduced us to). I of course adapt the recipe a bit, using romaine instead of arugula and way more lettuce and less olive oil than the original, but it's still great. Here's a photo I found on a blog:



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Staple Removal

Today was another milestone on the road to healing. This morning we went to Darryl Lipscomb's dance. Ken visited with our friends, and during the tips he walked around the park or played on his Droid. I danced with Jean.

As soon as the dance ended, we headed for Harlingen, stopping only briefly to grab a Subway chicken breast sandwich which we ate quickly. It turned out to be "hurry up and wait" since we got to Dr. Six's office around 1:10 p.m. for Ken's 1:20 p.m. appointment, but Ken wasn't called until almost an hour later. The visit went well. Dr. Six was happy with Ken's progress, and the staple removal was nearly painless. Ken will go back February 8 for an x-ray to go over with Dr. Six as a baseline. The next x-ray will be in six months.

On the way home we stopped at Lowes to look at water filters and at Walmart for groceries. We were supposed to have thunderstorms today, but they never materialized. Instead we had sun most of the day and just a gentle rain tonight.

We finally decided on an audiobook to download: True Compass by Ted Kennedy. We were in Boston at the JFK Library shortly after Senator Kennedy's death and walked through the memorial display which highlighted his life and work. We will have to burn the book to CD to listen to it in the truck, since there is no Audible player available for the Droid yet.
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Repairs

Today was supposed to be rainy here, but actually turned out to be fairly nice, though overcast. We were able to walk around the park. I took the laundry up to the north laundry room, hoping for better dryers. One of the park volunteers was at the laundry and told me that the machines there were newer--only one year old. They worked great.

We put the pressure regulator back in the line and turned on the water today, with towels to soak up the leak, which was pretty slow, so we did have running water. There wasn't enough pressure for a shower, so I went over to the park shower, which was pretty nice.

We spent some more time considering our options for water filters, etc. We talked to our neighbor, who has a very cool setup. He has rigged a small cooler to hold his two canister water filters, the first to remove sedimentation and the second to improve the taste and clarity.

We called a mobile RV repair person who lives in the park, Mark Brown. He had several things to do today, but said he'd try to make it over this afternoon. Around 7 p.m. he called an offered to come over, which we gratefully accepted.

Over four hours later, we had water again. Mark had to go to Home Depot for parts and be very patient and creative. Thanks, Mark!

Tomorrow is Ken's appointment to have his staples removed. He didn't take any pain pills after this morning--a very good sign.
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RV = Repair Vehicle, Again

We have been dealing with very low water pressure for some time now. Today we decided to try once again to get to the root of the problem. We've tested and found good water pressure through the water filter (which we recently replaced) and the water pressure regulator (which we also recently replaced). We unhooked the incoming water hose from the RV water input, which in our rig is inside a bay, and tested to make sure that water was flowing okay through the hose. The next step was to take out the check valve, which Gary helped me do, with the thought that maybe it was defective.

The check valve is brass and appeared to be just fine, so we were stumped. Gary suggested taking the pressure regulator and water filter out of the line. He said that they don't use a pressure regulator and the pressure in this park is pretty low. So that's what we did, and suddenly we had great water pressure. Wow, how wonderful! We decided to leave things that way and order a really good water filter and pressure regulator we had been researching online from the RV Water Filter Store.

Just as we were getting ready for bed, Ken yelled, "Lee, look!" Water was soaking the carpet in the living room adjacent to the cabinet under the sink. We've been through this water bit before (when our toilet overflowed a couple of times last year), so I grabbed the towels to soak up the water and ran to turn off the water supply. Darn! I knew it was too good to be true.

It was too late to call a repair person, so we filled up a couple of jugs of water and went to bed.

Ken has been very conscientious about walking every hour, just as Dr. Six recommended, and I've been walking with him too. We got in over 13,000 steps on my pedometer today, and it's a great opportunity for us to talk and to see what's happening in the park.

Terri emailed Ken a lovely poem, which he very much appreciated:

'WINTER'

A poem by

Abigail Elizabeth McIntyre

SHIT, It's Cold !

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Dancing with Jean

This morning I finally got to dance with Jean Ballinger, at Joe Saltel's. I danced the boy's part, and we agreed to switch off for Darryl's dance Friday. Everything went pretty well. I made a couple of fumbles, but nothing horrendous, and the hot hash tip at the end was great. One of the other ladies commented that the hot hash tip makes the dance--to which all of us agreed. It was exhilarating.

When I got home, I found that Ken was not feeling too well again. He called the doctor's office and was told that it is very common for people to suffer from constipation after the anesthetic wears off and that they recommend any over the counter laxative. Fortunately he felt better later in the day, and we went for a couple of walks together. On the first we came upon the produce sale opening up early. I picked up several things, including a nice bunch of spinach. So we had spinach lasagna rolls for dinner. The secret ingredient is tofu in place of the usual ricotta. They were good, but next time I will put them in the oven to bake instead of in a skillet.




Ken mailed in his application for pension from the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church. It won't be a lot, since he was only in the ministry three years, but every little bit helps. He'll be 65 on May 14, so he'll be applying for Medicare soon too.
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C-1 Class with Randy

Today was the first "official" C-1 square dance class. The Monday classes are being taught by Randy Dougherty at Pharr South. Bob Reece will be my partner for the lessons, since Doris is having back problems. Six squares showed up today--quite a floor for C-1 lessons. Randy jumped right in with all four feet and taught 11 calls, plus variations. Heads were swimming. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Jan and Steve Spaulding are taking the classes. They went on a tour of an aloe vera grower today, which included a visit to an avocado grove. Jan said that the trees were showing the effects of the recent freeze. They got some nice avocados, and left me a surprise when I got out to the truck: a shiny big green avocado was perched on the windshield wiper.

Ken says he is feeling much better today. He certainly looks like he's doing better. He's been out walking as the doctor ordered, but is having a bit of trouble remembering not to sit for more than 15 minutes at a time. Once he gets in front of the computer, all bets are off.

I made some shrimp creole for supper tonight. You can't go wrong with shrimp!
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Grapefruits and Oranges!

The freeze we have had the last couple of days has not been good for the citrus trees. People are picking the fruit to save it. Hardy and Judy thought of us when their neighbor had a surplus, and they brought by a couple of large bags of grapefruit and one of oranges. Judy also brought a couple of nice slices of some sweet bread she had made. We thought about saving them for breakfast, but then decided they'd be great for an afternoon snack. Yum! We'll have plenty of fresh fruit for breakfast for quite some time. Thanks, friends!

Ken has not felt too great today, although the incision is not giving him very much trouble. The side effects of the pain pills are less positive.

I talked with Aunt Iris and Aunt Helene today. Both were doing well. Helene has moved to a place that's only 1/3 mile from the church where she ushers, so she's happy about that.

Couldn't resist posting the pancake recipe we had for brunch. These were delicious, high protein, and lowfat. What more could you ask?

FLUFFY COTTAGE CHEESE PANCAKES

1 c. oatmeal, ground (measure and then grind in food processor or blender--this would yield about 3/4 c. oat flour)
½ t. baking soda
¼ t. salt
3 T. Splenda Granular
¼ t. cinnamon
4 eggs (or 2 eggs and ½ cup egg substitute)
1 c. cottage cheese (lowfat)
1/3 c. skim milk
1 t. vanilla

In a large bowl blend the dry ingredients. In another bowl whisk the wet ingredients. (I used my immersion blender to puree the wet ingredients because I like the cottage cheese smooth). Blend together and let sit for about 20 minutes. Heat a griddle over medium heat (or just slightly lower). Spray with butter flavored spray. Pour 1/4 c. into hot pan and cook until almost dry on the top. If underside gets too brown, turn down heat. These are very hard to turn if they are not cooked enough on the first side. Flip and cook until the middle is no longer wet. Serve with sugar free maple syrup. Leftover batter can be kept in fridge.
Modified from a recipe by Linda Farnsworth (Marysville, WA).
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Freeze!

We had a hard freeze last night, which we expected. What we didn't expect is that we ran out of propane in the night, so it was 48 degrees inside when we woke up this morning. At first we thought there must be a problem with the system, since we just got propane a few days ago, but on checking we found that both tanks were empty.

Then we heard a knock on the door, and it was our neighbor, asking if we were trying to flush something out, since he had found our outside water faucet running full blast. It turned out that Ken had turned off the water at the splitter, which was plastic, and it had blown apart from the freeze. So we didn't have a very auspicious beginning to our day, but it got better. The neighbor, Andy, offered to take our tank to get propane. I asked if he'd help me take both tanks in our truck, and that's what we ended up doing. When we pulled up to Pony Express Propane, there was a line of trucks. Evidently we weren't the only ones who found that the freezing weather used more propane than expected. Usually we just set a tank out by the road, and the truck comes around to fill it up. We've never seen a line at the propane place.

Life was much better once we got the furnace running and the tea water heated and the hot water tank heating.

Our friends Gary and Mary Ann stopped by to see how Ken was doing. We got lots of email messages and phone calls yesterday offering encouragement and support for Ken. It's really good to have friends.

For most of the day Ken was not feeling too great. He had quite a bit of pain, but tonight he says he feels better. He's been very conscientious about walking every hour as Dr. Six ordered. The muscles around the incision tend to tighten up, and walking relieves the stress.

I did the laundry today. I'm used to having Ken help, and we both check the washers and dryers to see if any socks are left. Well today I left more than socks, nearly half a load of wash in one of the washers. I really need that guy to watch my back.

Yesterday we noticed that Ken's incision was draining quite a bit. Dr. Six had said we could change the dressing on the drain tube hole, but it would be best to leave the incision dressing alone unless it got just too grubby. It was soaking through the dressing and through his clothes, so I put a new dressing on and covered the whole area with Hypafix to confine any fluid. The nurse had sent us home with supplies. The Hypafix is really neat stuff. It reminded us of Contact paper, but it comes on a roll. You cut what you need and peel off the backing. It holds well but is easy to remove. Ken slept on a towel in case it soaked through again, but this morning it was clear that the excess drainage had stopped, fortunately. I put new dressings on again, hopefully for the last time before his appointment next Friday to have his staples removed.
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Hospital

I spent the night at the hospital with Ken. He had the usual sleep interruptions from nurses and others checking his vitals, etc. For my part, I had a very uncomfortable night on a piece of furniture clearly designed to discourage family members from staying with patients (well, maybe not exactly, but it sure felt like it!).

At 7:30, Dr. Six showed up to check on Ken and write the orders for his release. Yay! He got to come home today as we hoped. Dr. Six wrote a prescription for pain pills and told Ken to walk as much as possible, which Ken took to heart today. By tonight he was feeling pretty ragged, even with the pain medication, especially when he tried to change position. We're hoping tomorrow will be a good day. It should be sunny and a bit warmer than today. The arctic front was intensified today by wind chill.

I made chicken soup for supper--supposed to be good for patients 8-) and creamy rice pudding.
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Surgery Day

I threatened to post a picture of Ken in his hospital gown, but I'll be kind and leave that to your imagination...

We got up at 4 a.m. to be at the Harlingen Medical Center by 6 a.m., way before we usually wake up. Ken drove, commenting wryly that it would be the last time he drove for a while (like a month). Dr. Six came by to talk before surgery and answer last minute questions, of which we had several since this was a new surgery we hadn't discussed in detail before.

The operating room nurse called about 8:30 a.m. to say that the surgery had started around 8 a.m. and was going well. She called a few more times with encouraging words. At 2:30 p.m. Dr. Six emerged to tell me that the surgery had gone very well. Ken had a ruptured disc that hadn't shown up on the imaging, but since it was at the fusion level, it was removed. The bone removed from the vertebrae for the decompression was ground up and mixed with bone bank bone to provide the fusion material. Dr. Six indicated that the fusion area appeared quite solid and should fuse nicely. That will take six months to a year.

At 3:30 p.m. I got the call that Ken was going up to his room on the third floor, and I went up to greet him. He was smiling as they wheeled him into the room. He has a sore throat from the tube used for anesthesis, and of course his incision isn't very comfortable, but on the whole he feels pretty good. He ate a good dinner, and then they got him up for a walk. Later we walked together all the way around the floor. Dr. Six has really emphasized the importance of plenty of walking to encourage proper healing of the back.

Several people called or emailed to let us know that they were sending healing wishes Ken's way. It's really good to have caring family and friends. Ken talked with Jeff and Rebecca and later called his brother, Gordon, who doesn't have email. Gord is 15 years older than Ken; he had fusion surgery three years ago. This stenosis problem apparently runs in the family.

The plan is to go home tomorrow after Dr. Six comes by and checks the incision and removes the drain. I'm hoping that we don't get the mixture of drizzle and freezing temperatures that would make the roads really slippery. It's expected to be in the 20's tonight and tomorrow night.

I had lots of time to wait in the lobby. When I found myself drifting off I decided to go shopping. On the way I heard a strange tone and thought it must be coming from my Droid, which I was using to navigate around Harlinger. The tone repeated at regular intervals, kind of like a smoke detector with run down batteries. I finally realized it was the buzzer I had been given to hold so that the desk staff could contact me. Evidently it didn't like being away from its home range, but was fine once we got back to the hospital.

I found a 99 Cents Only Store, one of my favorites from California, and stocked up on bargains. It's a good thing we aren't traveling for a while, so we'll have time to use the stuff up.
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Intro to C-1

One of the things Ken and I had planned to do this season was take lessons for the next level of square dancing, called Challenge. The first stage of that is called C-1. Randy Dougherty, Joe Saltel, and Darryl Lipscomb will each be teaching a class each week, and students have to commit to come to every class, since five new calls will be taught at each one. The classes officially start next Monday, but Randy was having a couple of introductory sessions. Ken agreed to go with me. It will be the last time he dances for quite a while.

There were five squares of students, which should make a good group. Many of them are friends and familiar faces. We'll all be working together to master the material. At this level of square dancing, a lot of the enjoyment comes from being able to complete complex choreography successfully, applying concepts that modify a whole range of calls. It takes a square of eight dancers working as a team to do that, all helping each other, especially by being in the right place at the right time.

It was good to get out and do something to take my mind off worrying about the surgery tomorrow. Ken, of course, wasn't really able to get that detached 8-) We didn't get the word until almost 5 p.m. that the insurance company had okayed the surgery, and even at that, they are withholding approval for some of the necessary included procedures until after the surgery, for no apparent reason. Frustrating and potentially expensive....

We are very concerned about Julie and the expected baby (Jesse or Jackson). In addition to the cholestasis, Julie has started to have high blood pressure. She went to the hospital last night and they decided to keep her overnight for observation. She was sent home on strict bed rest, and the OB indicated that they would probably induce at 38 instead of 39 weeks, or even sooner if necessary, but so far the baby is doing very well. Fortunately they have some great friends and neighbors who are stepping up to help out with the kids.

We had tickets for the Freddy and Sheila Show Friday night, but we're not even 100% sure we'll be home by then, and it's doubtful, even if we are, that Ken would feel up to sitting through a concert. I took the tickets by Guest Services and they will try to sell them for us. That shouldn't be a problem, since the concert is sold out and people have been coming by looking for tickets. We'll have to put on the CD of their music that we bought at the show last year. We really enjoyed that performance.

We're all packed up to leave early in the morning for the hospital.

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Happy Birthday, Terri!

Geni (the genealogy program) sent a reminder that Terri McBride turns 43 today. I called and wished her a happy birthday. She was out with some friends for coffee this morning and was going out this evening for dinner with friends to celebrate her birthday and as a going away party for one of the guys who is being deployed.

We went to Joe Saltel's dance this morning. Bob Reece was there, but Doris was home, still not up to dancing and feeling pretty rough with her back pain. Bob suggested that he and I could go through the C-1 lessons together, and Ken and Doris could keep each other company and watch.

I finally made it to the produce sale that is held every Tuesday afternoon at the clubhouse. I got a big bunch of broccoli, a cored pineapple, some grapefruit and oranges, and some apples. All of them looked really good and fresh.

When I got back from my walk, Ken had received a call from the doctor's office saying there was a hold-up in getting authorization from the insurance company. Ken spent the next few hours talking with people at the doctor's office, the hospital, and the insurance company. Finally it was agreed that the surgery would be postponed until Thursday, when Dr. Six fortunately had a cancellation. We thought that the approval would be routine and would come through tomorrow, but later Ken got a voicemail from the insurance company saying that the request had been denied. They always reject the Dynesys procedure as investigational, but indicated that a decompression and fusion would be approved, and that Ken had a right to appeal. So now we're waiting to talk with Dr. Six tomorrow to see what's next.

It is especially frustrating to run into this last-minute problem, since we asked Dr. Six's billing department to verify that the surgery would be approved the first time we met with him a month ago. Ken called too, and was assured that all would be well. Ken had some suspicion that the Dynesys procedure might be rejected since it is described as experimental in the US, although several European countries approve it.

Gary and Mary Ann came over this evening to play some Golf. They brought Ken some chocolates to cheer him up in the hospital. Gary has had back surgery, so they know something of what Ken might be going through.
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Dr. Six Again

We had another appointment with Dr. Six, to clear up any questions about the surgery Wednesday. Afterwards we went over to the hospital next door to preregister and for Ken to have the necessary tests, which took hours. One interesting thing is that the whole series of tests and paperwork was handled by having a buzzer, like the one you get at a restaurant when you're waiting for a table. The hospital is pleasant and modern looking, and everyone was very nice.

We missed Randy Dougherty's introduction to C-1 that I had planned to attend this afternoon, but we did go over to the special plus dance with Joe Saltel and Larry Letson. When we walked in the door, we were a bit surprised to find that pretty much everyone was dressed up, and Ken was the only guy with a short-sleeved shirt on. We walked around the hall and saw absolutely no one we knew, so we decided to go across the street to Pharr South to Randy's dance. Hardy and Judy were there, as well as other dancers we know and like to dance with, so that worked out quite well.

It was a bit of a hectic day, and the first time we've danced to Randy since last New Year's Eve, when he and Jerry Story had a special dance. When Randy saw me, he said, "Hello, stranger." He will be one of the teachers for the C-1 classes, so I'm glad we got to one of his dances before the lessons started.
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Sad News

My cousin Jan called this morning to tell us that George had passed away. He had been very ill for a while, but was home and had been doing well over the holidays. I'm saddened to think of Jan's grief at this traumatic loss. We will definitely miss that special George spirit, as will his family and many, many friends.

George definitely added spice to life!

George celebrating Thanksgiving with family.

Today was otherwise uneventful. We did make it out to buy provisions before returning to cocoon and watch a movie we had TIVO'ed: 2010, a sequel to 2001.

For dinner I fixed a beer-can chicken (though I actually use a coke can with water). They always come out moist and flavorful. There's barely enough room in my little oven to stand a chicken upright.

We played a couple of rounds of Perquacky. The first was close, but I won both, so I'll have to give Ken a chance for revenge soon.
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Bike Ride

It was chilly this morning, so we were just as happy to postpone our planned bike ride with friends until afternoon. We took advantage of the chance to do the laundry. When I went to Guest Services for quarters, I ran into Mary Ann, who had just bought their tickets to the Freddie and Sheila Show next Friday. We got our tickets yesterday, and we're looking forward to a repeat of last year's wonderful show.

We tried to fix my front brakes, which were damaged somehow by a fall in the park a couple of days ago, but to no avail, so we just disabled them. Riding around here is level and pretty tame, so the rear brakes will work just fine until we can get the bike into a shop. We met Hardy and Judy at this end of the Mission Trail around 12:30, and by that time it was a beautiful day for a bike ride, a mix of sun and light cloud cover and 67 degrees. Hardy brought along his gps and a list of geocaches along our route.

We hunted in vain for the first cache in the tangle of vegetation along the bike route. We did manage to find two others, so we considered the day a success.

Hardy with his GPS and list is ready to geocache.

Lee is having no luck in this hunt.

Cane burn ahead!

Hardy and Judy at the Conway end of the Mission Bike Trail

On our way back we rode through Retama Village and decided to stop to look through the models. We had toured the casita with RV port and the house before, but this was Hardy and Judy's first look. Their reaction was similar to ours, "Hey, we could live here."

All the photos above were taken with our Droids. They are much better than most of our early shots, which is probably due to the software update Verizon pushed out to correct some early glitches.

By the time we were finished with the ride, all of us were ready for dinner, so we agreed to meet at a restaurant. We ended up at Angel's Restaurant, where Judy and Hardy are regulars. It's a family operation with a comfortable atmosphere and good home cooking, Mexican style. Ken, Judy, and I ordered the combination, but Hardy was more adventurous and had the special menudo and barbacoa.

We were feeling lazy when we got home and just vegged out at our computers and catching up on a couple of TIVO'ed Jeopardy shows.
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A New Year

We started the year off right by dancing to Darryl Lipscomb this morning. The rest of the day was pretty quiet. I took a walk and ended up going along the levee over to the World Birding Center, hoping to see the tiger heron, the first ever sighted in the US. Lots of other people were on the levee there too--including a ranger with a scope pointed right at the marvelous bird, standing somewhat camouflaged in some tall plants. How lucky was that?


Our friends Gary and Mary Ann stopped by to wish us a happy New Year. They arrived back in Texas yesterday late afternoon, glad to be out of the Kansas weather. It was cooler here today, with a high around 67 and sunny--definitely better than Oberlin, KS, which is freezing and snowy.

We had pork roast and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes, green beans, fried apples, brown bread, and cole slaw for a special New Year's dinner (no black eyed peas). I talked with Aunt Iris, who is helping out an elderly friend, Evelyn. Iris and Beth were planning a feast between them. I talked with Julie, who is unsure how much the medication is helping her itching. She has a sonogram and exam scheduled for Monday and will call with results.
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Goodbye, 2009!

Happy New Year to all our family and friends!

It's been an exciting year. We towed Venture nearly 12,000 miles through the US and Canada.

States we’ve visited

Provinces we’ve visited

It's been a wild ride.

Today was a lovely day for the 2009 finale--sunny and 79, with a beautiful clear blue sky. During breakfast a juvenile hawk (Coopers or Gray?) sat outside our window on the fence and posed for several minutes. I didn't want to disturb it--so no photos. Just a lovely experience.

Later we biked over to the World Birding Center, and this time lots of birds came out for Ken to photograph. I even got a shot of some javelinas at one of the water features with my Droid. The three javelinas walked up to the water and drank noisily. Then one decided to try some running water, so it reared up by the fountain.

This tiny Ferruginous Pygmy Owl was attracting big attention! Two big cameras with
long telephoto lenses were pointing up at this tree, so it was easy for us to spot this cute bird.

Ladderback woodpecker just arriving for a snack

A congress of Green Jays

Altamira Orioles showing off their brilliant plumage

This javelina evidently prefers running water 8-)

When we got back home, UPS had delivered a package, which turned out to be RV business cards with a picture of Venture on the back. Thanks, Terri!

We spent some time researching emergency road service providers. We have had Good Sam ERS, but weren't too happy with the response when we had our flat tire outside of Nashville. We noticed on the Boomer BB that some folks were recommending Coach Net. It's easy to find people happy with either of those services, and also easy to find people unhappy with them, but on balance it looks like Coach Net may be a better choice. One factor to be considered is that the Affinity Group that owns Good Sam appears to be having financial difficulties.
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Ebook Research

Another quiet day. We sent out our thank you notes for Christmas gifts. In the mail we got a Christmas card from Ed and Marlyn, California friends, and a photo of Romaine's son Mark's family, with his wife Tamra and their six handsome sons. We also got a book we had ordered from Amazon, Nemesis by Chalmers Johnson.

We did some more research on ebook readers and formats for the Droid. It's amazing how much is available for free. I now have Aldiko software installed and a copy of Darwin's On the Origin of Species. Ken also has ereader and FBreader software. I tried reading Origin on the Droid and found that after a while my eyes were showing signs of fatigue. I have astigmatism, and it makes long term screen reading uncomfortable.

The profusion of formats and readers is confusing. It's unclear whether we would be able to read DRM protected files on the Droid if we bought them. I'd love to be able to try a variety of readers in the store. We did get a quick look at a Sony ereader once. Apparently the Kindle is available only from Amazon--so no easy way to try it out. Buying a dedicated ereader might help the eye comfort issue, since they use e-ink technology, which is supposed to be more like reading on paper. I'm thinking what makes sense is to wait a bit and see what develops.

I installed Pandora radio on my Droid today, so now I have a private radio channel labeled Mozart, how neat is that?
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Visiting

We danced to Joe Saltel this morning. Judy and Hardy made a special exception and joined us in the hot hash tip, along with Jim and Jane and Bob and Pat. We stayed after the dance and ate our lunch, along with Jim and Jane and Jean Ballinger.

Then we headed to Victoria Palms to see Tom and Donna Clapham and tour their new rig. It's another Excel, of course, but a bit more compact, a 33RSO Limited with beautiful hickory woodwork. We loved the custom touches that Tom has installed and the decor that makes it personal to them. A pillow on the couch caught our attention, with the saying "May our home always be too small to hold all our friends."

One of the topics of conversation was the Socrates Cafe, an activity Donna is looking forward to at Victoria Palms. She was a facilitator of a group somewhere else. We had never heard of Socrates Cafe, but it sounds like an interesting and stimulating program to encourage deeper conversations.

We had an altogether enjoyable visit and agreed to get together again soon.

While we were at Tom and Donna's I got a call from Julie. She had just come from her 34 week checkup and had some worrisome news. She has been experiencing some itching, starting in the soles of her feet. Her obstetrician diagnosed cholestasis of pregnancy, which results when the normal flow of bile is disrupted by pregnancy hormones. This can be dangerous to the baby, so she'll be checked weekly. The OB still plans to induce delivery at 39 weeks, but if there are signs of fetal distress, they may need to hurry the birth. We're hoping that this conservative approach means that the doctor thinks Julie has a less severe case.

We watched a NOVA special tonight called "What Darwin Never Knew." It's been 150 years since the publication of The Origin of Species. It's amazing what people are able to investigate now by working with individual genes and segments of DNA. One researcher has discovered an area of DNA called a switch that controls the development of hind limbs and may account for the first fish developing legs to pull themselves out of the sea--and for whales and dolphins losing their legs and moving back into the sea.
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Dancing

We danced at the Peppermint Palace to Jerry Story for the last time in 2009--he's heading to Gulfport, MS, to call for New Year's Eve. Of course he invited everyone to join him there. I was introduced to Jean Ballinger, who had just arrived back in town from her holiday travels. She's a single dancer and looking for partners. We talked about our dancing together while Ken is recovering from surgery. She's an excellent dancer and was dancing with Don today (he usually dances with Louise).

The end of 2009 is quickly approaching. I've made several year end donations over the last couple of weeks. We like to support NPR, PBS, and Escapees CARE. I make contributions to the American Kidney Fund in memory of my mom and to Alcoholics Anonymous, Cleveland District, in memory of my brother. And we support other causes throughout the year.

Some of these donations were made through the Capital One No Hassle Giving Site. It operates through Network for Good and has the (for me) great advantage that you get to choose how much of your personal information to share with the recipient. You can donate anonymously, thereby avoiding the "thank you" and solicitation mail. That saves the recipients mailing costs, and it saves us from having to pay to forward all that stuff. Also, Capital One covers all the administrative costs of your donation, and you get cash rewards, so your charities get more. We got the Capital One card in the first place to use in Canada, since Capital One is the only credit card company that not only does not charge a special fee for international transactions--it also covers the fee charged by Mastercard or Visa.

We had fish tacos for dinner, made with frozen tilapia fillets marinated in lime juice. They were actually fish tostadas, since I had the tostada shells and not the taco shells in the cupboard. I also made banana pudding with homemade vanilla pudding. This is the first time I made the homemade pudding, and it came out pretty good, especially with bananas, graham crackers, and whipped cream on top.
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Quiet Sunday

The big activity of the day was doing the laundry--so you know we had a quiet day. We thought about cleaning the truck, which, alas, got filthy again yesterday going through the road construction, but we didn't actually get around to doing it.

We had some brief excitement when we discovered that the wet spot in front of the sink in the bedroom was not just a little spill. We had noticed it last night but expected it to dry up. When it was still there this morning, we investigated further and found that the new container of detergent stored under the sink had a slow leak, and the carpet under the sink was saturated with detergent. It had seeped out and was causing the spot we had noticed. Well, at least it wasn't a plumbing leak . . . . I scrubbed and rinsed, but I'm sure there's still more detergent in the carpet. The carpet cleaner, Jack, had just reminded us that soap is a dirt magnet and that we should never use detergent to clean the carpet, so I'm guessing the area will need further rinsing and cleaning.

I soaked some pinto beans last night, and today I cooked them with some onion and garlic and spices. We had some with ham and cornbread and zucchini and corn for dinner. We finished off the lime tofu pudding for dessert.

We went over some photos from May 2009--a good reminder of our exploration of the California and Oregon coast.

We played a couple of rounds of Rummikub tonight. The tiles fell my way.
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Avatar!

We picked up our friends Hardy and Judy and went to the Tinseltown Cinemark to see Avatar in 3D. From the moment that "Don your 3D glasses" came on the screen, we entered an eye-popping world that seamlessly blended humans and CGI and put both on an alien planet full of mystery and danger and adventure enough for five or six movies. In fact, it almost seemed that we were watching or participating in fragments of several movies from the past, only on steroids. It was quite an experience, a milestone in cinematography or animation or graphics or something almost beyond any of those. If you saw an IMAX version, you might feel your heart stop when the ravening beasts or equally vicious mercenaries attacked.

The rest of the day seemed positively tame by comparison. We did some shopping and sorted through some photos and just hung around.

Terri called this evening. She was thinking about her grandmother, who of course has not been far from my thoughts, along with my brothers and others loved ones that I miss a lot, especially this time of year.
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Merry Christmas, Bialosky!

One of my family traditions has been the reading of Bialosky's Christmas to my grandchildren when they were little. When I talked with Terri earlier today, Kelley and Molly sang out the climactic line of the book, "Merry Christmas, Bialosky!" and brought back some wonderful memories. Ed and Julie called on their way home from visiting friends and reported that they had a white Christmas in Flower Mound when they woke up this morning. Julie admitted that in the crush of Christmas preparations, the wrapped gifts from Santa under the tree had no name tags, so Cate and Sam had fun opening each others' gifts this morning.

We went out to dinner this afternoon at the Echo Hotel and Conference Center in Edinburg with our friends Hardy and Judy and Bob and Pat. The place was packed when we arrived--it's evidently a favorite spot for the Christmas buffet, and we saw some fellow square dancers leaving as we arrived. We were seated quickly and had a lovely meal, and no one had to cook or clean up. On the way home we stopped at the Cinemark Tinseltown in Mission to buy tickets to see Avatar in 3D tomorrow afternoon with Hardy and Judy.

Ken talked with Gordon and Romaine, who have plenty of ice on the roads in Michigan, but no snow. Rebecca and Cathy called to wish him a Merry Christmas. They celebrated by going to several movies, including the new Sherlock Holmes movie and Avatar, and plan to return to the theater tomorrow. Cathy is working on her third degree black belt now.

Aunt Iris called and reported that her family is doing well. She had a group for Christmas dinner, and in preparation, she got up at 3 a.m. since she couldn't sleep and scrubbed the kitchen floor--just like Iris, who also sang in the choir at the Christmas Eve mass.

We opened our presents wrapped under our little tree. It's been a delightful Christmas.

Ken with his warm wool socks from Terri and can of colossal cashews from Romaine--
he's happy and has warm toes.

The "buy-ology" bag from Terri folds down to a compact, easy to carry size,
but expands to fit whatever you buy.

We watched the first episode of Ken's gift to me tonight--the complete Series I of All Creatures Great and Small.
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Happy Birthday, Chris!

Chris turned 44 today. Wait a minute! That means it was 44 years ago today that I counted his little fingers and toes, mesmerized by this beautiful creature who had come into our lives.

Today we were awakened by a knock at the door. We had forgotten that we had scheduled today at 8 a.m. for Nick's RV Wash and Wax to work its magic on Venture. They did the same last January, and in between we had given it only a lick and a promise, so it was definitely time. Two experienced guys went to work, and four hours later, Venture was bright and shiny again. So now we're clean inside and out and ready for the new year.

Park residents have been decorating for the holidays. Lots of cheerful colored lights, snowmen, and Santa caps adorn the rigs and sites. On our way in last night, we saw a rather unusual display on the front of a neighboring motorhome. Ken said it was "the traditional Christmas American flag."




Today was extremely windy, as forecast, but sunny and mild otherwise. Ken likes to look at palm trees at Christmas time...
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Sunny and 80 Degrees

We have a brief reprieve from the wet, overcast, chilly weather, so I put on my shorts today to celebrate. We even got in the [heated] pool for a dip.

This morning we got up early to prepare for the arrival of the RV Steamer, Jack Cook. He cleaned our carpets last December, and they definitely needed cleaning again. We moved everything off the floors and took the bedskirt off and removed the shoe pockets from the bedside. In the grand tradition of cleaning house before the cleaning people arrive, I vacuumed the carpets and cleaned in all the corners--amazing what you can see when the stuff that usually sits around and hides it is moved.

Jack did a bang up job of removing a large stain on the living room carpet that we had been unable to budge. It appeared when Venture was in the shop being repaired and evidently came partly from a large pail. Jack said that he'd had to use the Citrus Gel solvent to get it up, so it must have been oily. He also cleaned Ken's recliner, which looks 100% better now.

I joined a group that was singing Christmas carols this afternoon. The lead couple sang a few carols in Polish to get the singalong started. The group included a couple of German speakers. They sang a carol in German, and the group sang O Tannenbaum. One carol was sung in French in honor of the French Canadians. We sang a capella, but it went surprisingly well, mainly because the lead couple had 30 years of choir experience and were strong singers.

While the carpet was being cleaned, we went to the clubhouse and reviewed some photos from last June, which brought back memories of our visit in Portland.
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Holiday Cheer

This morning we danced to Joe Saltel in Pharr. We've been seeing signs of the holiday season for some time now, but today the Christmas shirts and jewelry and Santa hats really brightened the hall, along with the large Christmas tree.



This afternoon, spurred on by the imminent arrival of Christmas, I finally got all the Christmas messages out by email. We do have a few friends and relatives who don't have email, but we'll include them in our Christmas phone calls, so this year we didn't send out any paper Christmas cards. We do appreciate receiving greetings--by either email or snail mail. The photo and photo montage cards are especially interesting.

It's been very windy today, and we're expecting even more wind over the next few days. The advisory suggests anchoring Christmas decorations and such.
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Philosophy

"Let those who will, buy lands and hoard money. We will have our memories, glad memories of golden experiences together." In 1915 Margaret Gehrke wrote these words about her trips around the country visiting national parks with her husband, Edward. They traveled first by train and then by Buick. Edward even built a "house-car" for their travels, but he died before they were able to take it to a national park. We are privileged to travel in our own "house-car," Venture, that takes us to such magnificent places! This lifestyle gives us such freedom.

I checked out the PBS website for the National Parks series and found out that you can create your own online scrapbook of text and images and videos--a neat feature. If you clicked the link on Margaret's name above, you were taken to my scrapbook.

Edward and Margaret Gehrke toured the national parks in their Buicks

This morning we stopped at the Mission Bell RV Resort Craft Fair on our way to Jerry Story's dance. I wanted to get some more of the removable sequined appliques I had found there last year. This time I got some red, white, and blue stars to add to my collection. It's much better than adding extra shirts. We also found a Corning Ware teapot to replace the little stainless steel one we've been using to brew tea in. The old one dripped every time we tried to pour from it.


Jerry was in the holiday spirit today--but come to think of it, he's always got that childlike joy. Ken got him to pose by the Christmas tree on state at the Peppermint Palace. Kristy was nice enough to hurry back to the hall to dance with Kathleen in the last tip so we'd have a square. She is always nervous about dancing--partly because she's usually too busy at the check in table to dance much--but she did very well.


I worked on our Christmas message today and hope to get it out tomorrow to everyone.

We played another game of Samurai tonight, this one a tie, so we're planning another round tomorrow. And of course we reviewed more photos.
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Further Droid Adventures

Another quiet day. I copied my recipe files to my Droid, so now I don't have to move my laptop to the table to use my recipes--I can see them on my Droid on the counter. That's real progress, and it may even help me avoid skipping ingredients. However, I still managed to add 2 T of oil to the Grain and Nut Whole Wheat Pancakes, instead of 2 t. No system is foolproof (say, that makes me the fool, right?).

I've been trying to find a way to enlarge the fonts in the Gmail on my Droid, to no avail. A search of the forums shows that many other people are having the same issue. I tried one suggested solution, but it didn't work, so I uninstalled that app. Then Ken found a great browser called Dolphin that has several improvements on the built-in Google browser, including multitouch and "pinch and zoom." That means you can "stretch" the page with two fingers to make it bigger, or pinch together with two fingers to make it smaller. Voila! I now have Gmail that's easy to read. Now why didn't Google build that in to the Droid interface?

We spent some more time going over photos in July 2009. That was a busy time with our friends, and we have tons of photos, not all of them noteworthy, of course.

It was nice to hear from Chris. We talked about plans for camping in Yellowstone. We decided not to pursue the Grizzly RV Park option. Shortly afterwards we got an email from Grizzly apologizing that they had had an emergency, but we responded that we had made other plans.

We watched the first part of Cranford on Masterpiece Classic. We really like Dame Judy Dench.
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Laundry Day

Another lazy Saturday. We slept late and had brunch (oranges and corned beef hash with eggs). Then we did four loads of laundry. Later we gave the truck a quick wash to get the worst of the mud and grime off. It still needs a thorough cleaning and wax job.

For supper I made broccoli salad and bean soup with Carol's brown bread. I won't have to cook for a while since the fridge is full of leftovers. We played a game of Samurai and then had leftover bread pudding with yogurt and lemon sauce for dessert.

Most of the day was taken up with doing research and messing around on the web. We called to reconfirm our Yellowstone reservation, despite the fact that they'll be replacing the electrical system, so we won't have any electric. I discovered a really neat Droid app--Barcode Reader--and decided to try it out on a book, the biography of John Adams that Ken is reading. The barcode scanner immediately identified it as a book and offered a choice of product search, book search, and search book contents. I was amazed to find that the content search on the name "Hartley" immediately displayed the three occurrences in the book, in context. Wow!
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Glad to See the Sun

This morning we danced to Darryl Lipscomb. Some of the dancers put on a "This Is Your Childhood" show for Darryl, a bit of fun to present him with his holiday card and gift. Jane emceed and rode the "motorcyle" around the hall (her new bike, with engine noises playing on the speakers). Jerry Story and Joe Saltel attended to see their friend put on the spot, er... honored. Jerry and Kristy danced in the last square with Dick and Mary Ann, Don and Louise, and us.

We were glad to see the sun and milder temps today, so we got out on the bikes for a 10-mile ride along a trail we biked last year. I said something to Ken about not having the trail map, and he said, "Just follow the yellow line..." which worked, of course, since we were already familiar with the route. The sky was a spectacular blue.



When we got back to the park we stopped by Guest Services to pick up our mail. We were expecting an envelope forwarded from Livingston by the Escapees Mail Service, and were surprised to find a Christmas package from Terri waiting for us too. The presents inside were wrapped, so now we have cheery packages under our tree. We got several Christmas cards too, including a couple of photo greetings. One was from our friends Tom and Nanci in Olympia. It shows the two of them in Tom's new woodworking shop, where Tom is happily, according to Nanci, making sawdust 8-) The other was from my cousin Jan and her husband George, who live in Scottsdale, AZ. They are cutting up, with big smiles as usual. It's good to see George out of the hospital and looking so cheerful.



We chatted with our neighbor, Jerry, as we were getting ready to head out on our bike ride. He said that he and his wife had fulltimed for five years, but now have a home in Arkansas, near Hot Springs in a gated community with nine golf courses.

Tonight we watched a bit of Elf we happened to catch. Farrell's exuberance and innocence are heart warming, but the section we watched was enough of a taste for us, since we don't have any five-year-olds to entertain.

We also watched Bill Moyer's Journal. He seems to us to offer a viewpoint on current events infused with decency and insight and hope. He recommended Chalmers Johnson's book, Nemesis, and we ordered it from Amazon Marketplace for $7.97, delivered.
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Another Small Triumph

Thursday, so we went to Jerry Story's afternoon dance and as usual enjoyed the dancing and the company. Jim and Jane, Dick and Mary Ann, and Bob and Pat joined us for the open tip at the end.

This morning I spent some time on the web again looking for solutions to our need for a new amplifier/DVD/CD/Tuner unit to replace the Curtis that was no longer playing DVDs or CDs. Then it occurred to me that it might be possible to fix the Curtis, so I Googled "DVD player quit working" and found lots of tales of woe-and a couple of good suggestions. One was to unplug the unit to try to "reset" the electronic brain. I tried that, and it seemed to help, since the DVD loaded and the title sequence played, but still no sound and the program would not play.

Another suggestion was to use a CD lens cleaner. That didn't seem very likely to fix the problem, but it couldn't hurt and would be lots cheaper and easier than buying a new unit, so we decided to try it. On the way home from the dance we stopped and picked up a cleaner kit up for $7.97. It worked like magic! Another small triumph.

The DVD of Paint Your Wagon played perfectly, with great sound. Then I tried playing the exercise video, and we were right back to the same problem. I ran the cleaner DVD again, and again Paint Your Wagon played fine. Finally I decided to try the exercise video on my laptop--and for some reason it plays fine there. One of life's little mysteries...

We are still interested in replacing the Curtis. It's not a great unit, and we get very poor FM reception. We've tried antenna boosters, but the unit only has a 75 ohm connection, and so far nothing has helped, so we mainly listen to radio on the laptop.
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Broken DVD Player

This morning was cold and rainy, so I decided to skip the exercise class and instead try the Leslie Sansone video I bought some time ago. I popped it in the player, watched the FBI Warning and the title/menu screen, but when I hit play, the screen went black and nothing happened. Not a good sign. I tried another DVD, with the same result. The next DVD didn't even play the opening stuff. Apparently the DVD player is broken. Ken tried the CD player too--but no music.

What we have is not just a DVD player--it's the amplifier, FM receiver, DVD/CD player for our home theater system and drives the surround sound speakers. It's also comparatively light and compact, so it fits the entertainment center cabinet. Apparently it's not easy to find something to replace it.

On a more positive note, we got a wonderful Christmas gift today. Kathy sent us a 3-month Gold Membership in Audible.com. It comes with one credit per month that can be exchanged for most of the titles they handle. Now the fun begins...what shall we choose??? I downloaded the Audible software and then Dickens Christmas Carol, a freebie, just to check out the system. It worked fine, although it took half an hour to download. We will really enjoy having things to listen to, especially when we are traveling. Thanks, Kathy!

We don't dance on Wednesdays, so we try to catch up on chores, but with the rain we were lazy today. We did play some games and go through photos.
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Repair Success

This morning we danced to Joe Saltel and as usual had a great time. We visited with Hardy and Judy and actually got to dance with them in one square. We agreed to look for a restaurant for Christmas dinner. Our first choice, Mimi's, is closed on Christmas. We had a great hot hash square with Dick and Mary Ann, Ron and Judy Barr, and Mike and Bonnie Hall.

My granddaughter, Annie, now has her own Facebook page, and she and I are "friends." Her parents had been holding out until she was older, but when her friend Isabel's hamster had its own page, how could Annie not have one?

I worked for some time trying to put the push button switch on our ceiling light back together, but after lots of frustration, finally gave up. Whenever I got the parts back together, the push button wouldn't work. We had looked for a new one yesterday at several stores with no luck, so I checked on the web. I found what we needed, but with shipping costs and delay, that didn't seem the optimal solution, so I started calling around to electrical and lighting places and finally (finally!) located a small electrical supply place that said they had one. We drove in to Mission and were very pleasantly surprised to find just what we needed for $1 and with a smile. We brought it home, installed it, and put the fixture back together, so we have light over our table once more. Another minor victory in the struggle to keep our RV ("repair vehicle") in tiptop shape.



It's been raining for hours now, and no leaks, so evidently our leak repairs are holding, thankfully.

We spent another couple of hours on photos tonight, all of it in just subdividing the 1,074 July photos into manageable groups
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We Scored H1N1 Vaccine

When we went to the craft fair at the convention center, we happened to pick up a local paper and noticed an announcement that free H1N1 vaccine was available at the local health clinics. We called and found out that they were passing out numbers at 7:20 a.m. for the morning and at 12:30 p.m. for the afternoon session, with 60 passes available for each session. So today we packed a lunch, and after the dance we headed to the Mission Medical Clinic. We got our numbers and sat down to wait. We were pleasantly surprised that we were actually out of there by 2 p.m. So now we're protected--we hope.

Our friends thought we'd been out off-roading--the truck is covered with mud again. We've decided that it must be from the road construction we drive through on our way, so we're changing our route to get out the back way. Maybe we won't have to wash the truck every day.

The switch on the light over our table quit working last night. When we took it apart this afternoon, it fell in pieces, so we headed out to buy a new one, thinking that we could find one easily at Radio Shack. Think again! We went to Radio Shack, Home Depot, Advance Auto, O'Reilly's Auto, Mission Feed and Hardware, and Mission Hardware before giving up and coming home. I sat down with the parts and the clicker seems to work, so we'll reinstall it and see what happens.

Tonight we went through photos again. We're back through August, 2009, so we have quite a project ahead of us. We watched a Nature program on the Namibian lions, who manage to survive in the desert.
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