Memorial Day Memory….

Yesterday McGuyver and I went up to see Uncle Jr. and Aunt Jeanette…I knew they needed us (McGuyver) to help take the plastic off their screen porch….and I needed to get out of the house!! We stopped at our daughter’s house in Sugar Grove on the way..

 

Terrie and Tim have a lovely home, and they were just getting their pool ready to open..As you can see, Taylor was all ready for it….

They have a rescue dog, Bogie, who is part Pit Bull and part ???…She is deaf from being abused..and gentle as a lamb, but strong as an Ox!!!! If she gets loose, it is a big problem..you can’t call a deaf dog, so we found out.

After we left there, we drove the 5 more miles over to Jr. and Jeanette’s home..They live in Montgomery Illinois and the bridge across the Fox River was all decked out in flags…

You can see the river from their front yard..and the water level was pretty high, due to all the rains… We got to Jr.’s about 11AM.  I have a little problem going up and down steps with my new found nemisis, my walker..Dennis had to stand behind me and lift me up as I hopped up the 2 steps into their house…(There is no railing)..I have been getting a real sense of the frustration that our handicapped population must feel when there is no easy access into places.

I took these two photos from my chair in their kitchen..You can barely see Junior through the screens, but he was trying to help Dennis with the porch…He absolutely refused to sit down and let Den take care of it…He is so very proud, he will not give in to the fact that some things he just cannot do anymore…Dennis also went up on their roof and swept  all the Maple seeds off the valleys  and cleaned out their gutters….I noticed that their outdoor table and chairs wasn’t set out yet, and Jeanette said it was still in the garage..She tried to talk Den out of getting that out for them too, but good ‘ol McGuyver went into the garage and got it all set up for them…

When Den finally was done, Uncle Jr. finally sat down too….and of course, out came the snacks, nuts wine and beer…And also out came the beloved stories of WWII in the South Pacific onboard the USS Bennington and the USS Lexington…

Jr. joined the Navy in September of 1941, and after his boot camp at Great Lakes (where our son also did boot camp), he was stationed at Pensacola Florida Naval Air Station.  He told us that on December 7, 1941, he and some other sailors were on liberty in downtown Pensacola..Suddenly the big Naval trucks came roaring through town, telling all Navy personnel  to climb in the back, no questions asked.  Uncle Jr. said they had no idea what was going on until they got back to the base and heard about Pearl Harbor…and, as they say, the rest was history…We had never heard this story before…

What a wonderful way to spend Memorial Day…visiting with our very own WWII Vet….He still gets very emotional about the stuff he saw…He got out of the Navy in 1946.  All of his time was spent in the South Pacific theater…When we go to the Texas Hill Country next time we really need to go to Fredericksburg and see the National Museum of the Pacific War  …

All in all, we had a very wonderful Memorial Day, visiting with Den’s Aunt and Uncle and revisiting World War II with a fabulous hero/gentleman, Uncle Clarence Bark, Jr.

 

BYE, YOU TWO!!! WE’LL SEE YOU AGAIN SOON…AND…

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!!!!

I HAVE A NEW RESPECT FOR HERMAN MUNSTER…

  Well, the Plantar’s Peanuts foot debacle is in it’s final phase..post surgical.  I have to say I was a little nervous about ANYONE cutting at all on one of my feet, but so far, so good.

Thursday AM, bright and early (6AM), I was checked into the Outpatient Surgical Ward of Valley West Community Hospital in Sandwich, and shown into my very expensive “suite”…

Hey..I think I have the wrong room…I was told I would have a 47” HD TV….Just wait until I get hold of my booking agent!!!

About  7AM, after doing the mandatory “completely disrobe”, a very nice nurse came in and started my IV fluids, full of antibiotics, saline, and..very soon to be “sleep medicine”.  My anesthesiologist also came in to check on me…Let me just say that I have slippers older than her!!…(just keep the faith, Donna…)

 

 

 

Before I knew it , I was waving bye to McGuyver…My nurse suggested  I kiss him goodbye…Hey,….does somebody know something we don’t??…I ‘m just having foot surgery, NOT open heart surgery…right???

 

Once all alone with the Doc and his posse, I began to crack jokes..They must have been pretty bad, because the next thing I knew…surgery was over and I was in the Recovery Room, sporting one of Herman Munster’s shoes…(I really needed his sport coat to complete this look.)….

I must say, the service was fabulous and the coffee ..great! At $100 a cup, it should have been …JUST KIDDING, VALLEY WEST STAFF!!!!

After I was speaking in complete sentences and making sense (when did that ever happen?), I was taken down to Physical Therapy in a wheelchair and fitted with a walker….a YOUTH walker…Anytime the word “youth” is used in association with my name, I’m a happy girl…

 

 

 

 

I promptly made this walker my OWN when I got home by a little decorating touch…That Gods Eye should protect me from all of the “evil “infection spirits…

 

 

So, I have now been home one full day and night….I was having some problems with my hands getting sore from lifting my body weight to move the walker without putting any weight my “Munster” foot.  I used some wash clothes on each hand hold to add padding, but McGuyver had a better idea….

He went to the Hardware store and purchased some pipe insulation, which comes in 6 foot lengths, and is split to fit around a pipe…Cut to fit my handles and…..WALLA!!!! Man, that sure helped!!

 

The Doc gave me some antibiotics to take at home, and some pain meds…Tylenol with Codeine…I am not one who handles heavy pain medication without ending up hugging the porcelain God, so I am using Extra Strength Tylenol, over the counter, every 3 hours and it seems to be working fine…Plus I have a pretty high pain tolerance, being that I AM the kidney stone Queen….

This walker will supposedly be with me 2 weeks…I am aiming for one week…

Dennis has me all set up with the laptop, some soup, my drugs, a pillow…Man, I wonder what he charges for all this stuff??  Boy, I look grumpy…You know why?…Still unable to comment on some people’s blogs….

 

As you can see, I managed to find a way to use the desktop in the kitchen and keep my foot up.. (which I prefer to the laptop)..plus I am closer to the food.

 

Right now, McGuyver is outside mowing grass and I am suppose to be resting….While the cat’s away…….

 

 

Thanks to all of you for the good wishes for my recovery. Also to my great friends and family who have brought in food, magazines and good cheer!…Rest assured that I will be back on my walks as soon as humanly possible…and I will definitely keep my Herman Munster footwear.   I see a prospective future Halloween costume!!!!

SEE YA IN A FEW…..JUST LIKE THE MOVIE, “IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE"”!!!

COMMENTING PROBLEMS…

I am having a big problem commenting on certain blogs…so if you think I  am ignoring some of you …I am NOT! I am getting very frustrated at Blogger (I do believe it is their problem)…I am now willing to fly Rick  to Blogger Headquarters and have him straighten this mess out…From what Al says, I am not the only one…So, if you haven’t heard from me on your comment board for a while…it isn’t that I haven’t tried…They better get this dadgum thing fixed or they might have to tangle with me AND my soon to be acquired crutches!!!!

 

 

YA DON’T WANTA GET THIS WOMAN VERY ANGRY..IF YOU THINK SHE’S UGLY NOW….JUST WAIT!!!

 

MORE BLOGGING LATER….AFTER I GET MY CRUTCHES AND PRACTICE WIELDING THEM AT THE COMPUTER….(POOR DENNIS…HE REALLY ISN’T PREPARED FOR A CRAZED, DRUGGED UP CRIPPLE, WITH  A GRIEVANCE AGAINST HER COMPUTER…AND WEAPONS AT HER DISPOSAL!!!)

 

BRING ON THE ANESTHESIA TOMORROW…I AM READY FOR ANYTHING!!!

May 22nd, 1948…I could be considered an antique!

..Yes, you guessed it..Sunday , May 22nd was my birthday. ..63rd to be exact.  That old saying that “life goes by in the blink of an eye” seems truer every year. Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was playing 4 square volleyball in the middle of Plum Street in Elgin? ( We all played in the street back then)..I remember when the vegetable cart came by our house, pushed by a lovely older man, selling produce from his garden…OR , better yet, I can remember the scissor sharpener guy. He came walking by about once a month, offering to sharpen knives or scissors , carrying the tools of his trade in a small wagon.   My Mom was a seamstress, so she always had her “pinking shears” sharpened…Do any of your remember or still use pinking shears???

  Actually, I  do come from some strong German stock..My grandfather’s brother lived in West Virginia, in a little old house up a muddy dirt road.  His name was Fred Rausch and his wife’s name was Fanny…(Yes, I had an actual Aunt Fanny and Uncle Fred. ) Aunt Fanny churned her own apple butter on their farm.   Uncle Fred farmed the land and taught school in a one room school house,  just down the road…You just can’t make this stuff up, so here are the pictures…

My  Great Uncle Fred Rausch……                  and my Great Aunt Fanny, making apple butter..Letart, West Virginia

I guess I must have been a fairly pleasant enough looking child.   My Mom and Dad had a professional picture taken in Chicago when I was small. I have no idea what happened to that curly hair…It left when the wrinkles showed up

Here are a few more mug shots,  at various stages of my life…..

No, my name is not Buster Brown who lived in a shoe….Yes, I did mow grass…and…. who the Hell did my hair for that last photo??

Right to left…Prom, 1965…..next, my Senior picture…and yes, that IS Phil Donahue..Some of us girls went to Chicago to see his show in the 1970’s.

Which brings me up to 63 years old…I’m not sure just who that youngster was in the above photos..But I DO know this old crow….63, with attitude…and damn happy to be here!

 

PLEASE NOTICE THAT MY OUTFIT ACTUALLY MATCHES FOR A CHANGE…WELL, SORT OF

My daughters got together and gave me this neat stepping stone on the left, with all the grandkids names on it… I put it outside right in front our stoned bushes  (stoned as in rocks, not “high”),  just beside our deck…And Kelly and Cindy brought me over a beautiful planter and a neat solar light…SCORED BIG, EH???

My birthday was a hot and windy day…It got so windy here that it blew a vase of silk flowers off of our table in our bedroom upstairs,  and broke it all over the floor Vacuuming was not on my list of things I wanted to do for my birthday.…I retrieved the flowers, found another vase, and rearranged them in the new one. Not a bad job…

Did I mention that I worked in a floral shop for 6 years?? If I listed all my jobs..HMMMM, well now, let me see…babysitter, a soda jerk at a newstand, floral arranger,  nurse’s aide, Avon Lady, Tupperware salesperson, Beautician,(owned my own shop called Tangles), teacher’s aide for Special Ed, Optician…and …chief cook and bottle washer for a family of 5…God, I love retirement!

My birthday will , unfortunately, go down in history as  a very deadly weather day..Sunday a huge F-4 tornado hit Joplin ,Missouri and killed (so far) 119 people.  According to the news, the debris cloud from that tornado was 18,000 feet high, and they found some of the papers and files from Joplin’s St.John’s Hospital 60 miles away..I cannot fathom the terror of that storm.  It certainly puts one’s life in perspective…and I promise I will never complain about a birthday ever, ever again in my life!

Yesterday I saw my Podiatrist about my upcoming (Thursday) Plantar’s Peanuts surgery (To those who are just finding this blog, don’t ask)….He gave me my “boot” that I will be wearing for the next 2-3 weeks with ..and told me that I will be on crutches with NO weight bearing. 

Stick with me on this one, blogosphere.. The blogs I publish after this surgery could be very interesting,  coming from a drug induced delirium/stupor….But, my surgery is not NEARLY as debilitating as Odel's knee surgery …(Hi Odel…think of me would ya?) Hey, maybe I could milk this thing to my advantage , and have McGuyer in the palm of my hand….No, never mind..that will NEVER happen , right?????

 

I WILL NOW APOLOGIZE UP FRONT FOR ANYTHING STRANGE THAT SHOWS UP IN THE NEXT FEW BLOGS….

Summer is Here…and..Having Lunch with Friends….

  Well, it is actually 83 degrees here today as I sit and type this short blog…Supposedly we are in for a couple days of rain, but the temps will stay very Florida-like….All of the plants here are loving this weather as much as we do…

Things are popping out all over…

My Japanese Maple survived the Illinois winter and is thriving…on the right is something called a Wild Lime Coleus….(That sounds more like a drink  with an umbrella in it that you could get on the beach somewhere)…

We finally got our tomato plants in…also some jalapenos and green bell peppers…..

Amtrak comes by so frequently now…hmmm…Maybe I can get them to stop  by and water the garden for me .

 

 

Well, so much for attracting the Martins…I can see by that big ‘ol stick hanging out of one of the holes, that the Starlings have moved into our condo…I should have required a security deposit…those birds can really leave a mess!!

 

 

 

 

Thursday afternoon I had lunch with a couple good friends, Berit and Virginia.  I worked with Virginia at an Optometric office in Sandwich..and Berit was the Gucci frame representative who came in every so often to sell some great Gucci eyeglass frames to the practice..We became good friends, and always went out for lunch when Berit came down from her home in Palatine, IL. Now that we are all “retired”, Virginia and I meet Berit halfway between Sandwich and Palatine and do lunch a couple times a year…The Claddagh Pub is the perfect spot for good friends to share good food..The fish and chips is to die for…

Berit is gonna kill me for catching her “primping” in her mirror…and that’s Virginia on the right… We always manage to have lots of laughs when we get together…

On the way back to Sandwich, “Ginny” and I stopped at Dick’s Sporting Goods….and as you can see, we have gone right from Chicago Blackhawks frenzy into Chicago Bulls hype…

 

Tomorrow night is “date night”, and I’m having trouble finding any sexy outfits that will go with my orthopedic black Crocs…Oh well, if ya happen to look at my feet as I come in the door, maybe I can pass it off as a bad wardrobe choice… or maybe I can say Den picked out my shoes…At any rate, I’ll be glad to get this foot fixed so I can get some cool looking sparkly boots like my granddaughter!!! See ya in a couple!