It is Monday isn’t it? I’m never sure anymore. Our weeks get so convoluted with appointments here and there. This morning our AC company came for their annual service on the air conditioner. Unfortunately I had to have a new capacitor put in. I have had that part repaired two or three times over the 16 year life of the system but it was time to actually replace it. If that goes out, ya’ got no AC. So that took up a couple of hours of the morning. This afternoon we have the Home Health nurse coming for Kate. In the meantime, — it’s laundry day. 

I actually did “in person” worship yesterday. Kate didn’t go but she watched on TV. This was my first time since February 14th and it really felt great to get back in a pew. Recliner church works and it is te same service, but the closeness of being with a congregation just makes it all different. 

Yesterday afternoon I got the plants from the sunporch put back out for the summer. With all of the change that has happened in my backyard, and now moving the plants out of the sunporch —— it is a different view for sure form my seat. I got the feeders and feeder poles all put back up and the Backyard Buffet is at full capacity. My birds and squirrels are all happy again. Yesterday we had our first Grosbeak fly in and feed. He is just the first of several that migrate through my yard twice each year. They will be here for a couple of weeks and then move on to wherever their destination takes them. I still have not had a hummingbird come in although some folks have the already. What I do have though is an abundance of Goldfinches. We ave maybe a dozen that constantly come to the feeders and they are so brilliantly yellow this year.  I love watching them. 

Tomorrow Kate has an appointment at the beauty shop and then Wednesday we have another appointment with the surgeon. No dull moments around here. 

That’s it for today. I need to work on a sermon that I have coming up on the 19th of May and I also need to get my trumpet out of the case and start playing it again. I volunteered to do a trumpet solo at church on the 21st of July and it is going to take me that long to get my lip and lungs in shape enough to do it. I don’t know why I volunteer for this stuff. I’m just a glutton for self torture I reckon. 

Have a blessed day. Peace. 

 We have no dull days around our house, or so it seems. Yesterday Ms. Kate had two doctor’s appointments; the first was with her family doctor, and was her quarterly check-up. That went fine. Then she went to see her surgeon. He was supposed to removed the drain from the surgery last week to reconnect her body parts. Well he did that but she had developed some other complications and he wanted her admitted to the hospital for testing and observation. .  We drove around the corner to the ER and checked in. It took about an hour for them to call her to do her blood tests and then we waited for them to cal her for a CT scan of the abdomen area. They finally called her back for that and then said they were admitting her. It took seven more hours of her laying in the ER for them to finally assign her a room. She finally got to her room at 8:00 pm last night. 

Her night was less than restful but she is doing much better today. The issue she had had calmed down and the surgeon has been in and said most of the problem she had was not unusual or unexpected. He has authorized her to go home. However, if they take as long to check her out of here as it did to check her in here, we might get home by 8:00 pm tonight. 

The good news is nothing was found that was a crisis and she is getting better very slowly. As always, we give all praise to God.

Peace. 

 Happy Blessed Tuesday. It’s a sunny but “coolish” day. There is a breeze that somewhat modifies the heat levels. And we are supposed to have some rain yet this evening or tonight. Two nights ago I had to cover my tomato plants because of a frost threat. I don’t know if it actually did frost or not but I was not taking any chances. I have put a lot of work into raising those plants. I don’t want to lose them now. 

Update on Ms. Kate: Yesterday was her one year check-up by her cancer surgeon. And at least for him —- she has graduated. That’s one less doctor we need to keep on “speed-dial”. She still needs to reschedule her annual mammogram that we canceled because of her last surgery. Tomorrow we have only two doctor’s appointments; our family doctor at 1030 and her surgeon at 1130. The surgeon is going to remove the drain from the procedure he did last Tuesday and probably the staples too. We are still having to dress the open wound from the February 14th surgery and it is giving her some trouble; but, nothing I can’t handle, so far at least. 

I’m still dealing with stuff to do with storm damage. Yesterday afternoon I took four of my bird feeder poles that got all bent from the tree falling on them to my friends, Andy and Brenda. Andy took his blow torch to them and got them straightened out fairly well. They aren’t totally straight but they will work and it saved me a lot of money. Slowly but surely, I’ll get the Backyard Buffet up and fully running again. 

I think that will catch you up for today. I hope your week is blessed and you can feel the love of Jesus Christ surround you. Peace. 

 It’s finally Saturday and I think all of the drama of the week is over. When I last posted we were getting ready for Kate to go back in for another try at having her resection surgery. We went to the hospital on Tuesday and she did in fact have the surgery. She was in the hospital until late yesterday afternoon. The doctors says the surgery went well. We have a follow up appointment with him next Wednesday. I think he may also remove her staples at that time. The other wound that we have been treating is slowly healing. Doing the packing with the new stuff we started with last week seems to be doing the job. It will just take awhile. At least she no on her has to deal with the stoma bag which is a great relief to her. Last night I think we both had the best night’s sleep we have had in weeks. 

This morning I got Kate’s bandages changed, gave her the Lovenox injection, and have made a pot of vegetable soup that is currently simmering. I make a good pot of veggie soup now that Kate taught me how. And —— she learned from the best; her mom. Kate make great soups; I especially enjoy her cream soups whether it is mushroom, potato, or clam chowder. They are all great. I need to have her teach me how to make those too. 

I think I need to make an Angel Food cake. While we were eating from the hospital kitchens we ordered what they called angle food cake with a raspberry drizzle. Sounded really great —- totally sucked. But it made me hungry for Angel Food cake. It’s not like it hard to make. 

That’s it for this Saturday. Tomorrow is a day of worship and I have so very much to be grateful for. Peace. 

 Happy Monday. It is a beautiful morning however, it is also a prelude to storms and more rain or so the weather dudes tell us. 

Tomorrow we try again for Kate to have her resection surgery done. Hopefully her blood tests are good and we can proceed. The doctor’s office called this morning and told her that her surgery has been delayed for a couple of hours. We now have to be there by 1230 for a 1500 surgery. That’s going to make for a long day for all of us. If the surgery starts at 1500 that means she will be in surgery until roughly 1700 or so, then an hour in recovery so she won’t get in to a hospital room until at least 1800; that’s if everything goes on a schedule. But —- as long as she can get it done, and it all goes right, —— it’s all good. I’m guessing it will be Saturday morning before she can be released from the hospital. 

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day and I totally wasted it. Well, I only say I wasted it because I didn’t go out and get any yard work done and I did nothing but sit around and read and relax. But then, isn’t that what the Sabbath is really supposed to be about??  We of course attended our church service from the recliner. Pastor Shane had a really  good sermon yesterday on “Blessed are the Peacemakers”; Matthew 5:1-7. He has been walking through the Beatitudes in a series. Given what all is going on in the world —- his message was really on point. We planned to also watch the St. Lucas service but I guess they did not broadcast it. 

I do have some yard work that I need to do today. I have not yet mowed my back yard so I need to do that. First I need to rake a lot of dirt back into one of my flowerbeds. The falling tree kind of dug a trench in it and also dug up a lot of daffodils and a couple of roses. So, I have to finish that kind of clean up. With rain and storms coming, it needs to get done. 

So, that is it for today. Lift us up in your prayers again this week please. God bless you all. Peace. 

 We had a rollover coaster ride morning. We were up and ready and at the hospital at 0600 this morning for Kate’s 0800 surgery. Unfortunately her bloodwork showed that her blood thinner level was too high to be safe for surgery. We were afraid that would happen because they had prescribed 100 ml twice a day of the Lovenox bridge which was much higher than what they had done before. So —— we are now scheduled  for surgery next Tuesday morning and they have lowered the dose of medicine required to bring her levels into tolerance. 

One good thing is that her doctor also examined the open wound that we have been treating for the past six weeks. He prescribed a better method of healing for it. So, there is that and hopefully that will be fully under control by next Tuesday too. But it was aa huge disappointment. 

Having said that —— I got to thinking about it and I can see God’s hand in it all once again. My prayers have been that God guide the hands and decisions of Kate’s doctors throughout this entire process. This morning her doctor sent her back home because her bloodwork indicated that it wasn’t totally safe to do the surgery. I can’t be mad when God answers my prayers. Sometimes I forget that. 

Have a blessed day! Peace. 

 Wednesday, April 10th. Good morning and happy Wednesday to you. This has been an eventful week and we have had enough excitement to last us for awhile. 

We all know about the severe weather that hit us a week ago. Since then, I had a fantastic crew in here and they cleaned up all of the mess and got the tree off of my house. The young man that owns the business was a connection through church. I didn’t know him but I had met him several years ago when I buried his mother, and then again a few years later when I helped perform the wedding for his father’s second marriage. His uncle texted me and said if I was looking for for someone to clean up the mess, I may want to talk to his nephew. I trust his uncle’s judgement and word and gave the young man the job; he in no way disappointed me. In fact, my next door neighbor saw the job that he did and is hiring him to take care of all of their storm damage. 

My USAA adjuster came out Monday and did what he needed to do and my roofing contractor has been here too. He is going to have to replace the entire roof on the back side of the house as well as the gutters, and downspouts and a couple of soffits. The roof is tarped so we are safe from leaks which is good because it is raining and is supposed to continue on and off through tomorrow. (Yea!!!)

My tomato plants are in the ground and doing well. I’m going to give a couple to Kari, the lady that cleans our house, and I have five for my sister-in-law Karen. I need to plant my squash seeds now too. 

Tomorrow morning at 0600 we are taking Ms. Kate to Deaconess Midtown for what we hope and pray will be her final surgery. Dr. Roberts is supposed to “put her back together” tomorrow. We expect she will be in the hospital until maybe Sunday. Please lift up a prayer for her. This has been such a long thing to deal with and she has been a first rate trooper through it all. We are still treating the open wound from the first surgery but it has almost totally closed. But I have to change the dressing at least twice a day and she is really, really sore from the constant removal of the tape on the bandage. 

That’s my news for the week. I thank all of you who have been lifting us up in prayer. Peace. 

 April 3rd. It certainly was a calmer morning around here. The sun is trying to shine but the clouds and “April showers” are prevailing in that battle. I went out to take some more damage pictures and pick up some debris. It started raining on me and by the time I walked back in the house, it stopped. That has been the case all morning. 

I made contact with my USAA insurance folks and got the paperwork rolling for my claim for storm damage. Then I hired a contractor to clean it all up. He came right out and got started. It helps that I go to church with his family, I even did his mother’s funeral several years ago. He and his helper got busy and got all of the stuff off of the roof and put a tarp over the area that had a few small holes in the shingles. My insurance adjuster is coming out Monday morning and will be meeting with me and my contractor. I told my contractor to just worry about the stuff on the roof until the adjustor sees it. I want the adjustor to see the full impact of the damage. 

Kate has her Home Health nurse coming today and she just arrived so I’m jumping off. Y’alll stay safe during this crazy weather. 

Peace. 

 April 2nd, We had a rude morning from the weather. I woke up at 0530 and heard the severe storm sirens going off. I got up and went to the family room and turned on the television and the yard lights. About five minutes later the was a tremendous crash on the house

It looks pretty bad, but we are safe and we are blessed!!