Terry here.
Left Warsaw Indiana after visiting Dale's family for two nights, we departed the fairgrounds this morning at 9:15 and arrived at Summit Lake State Park close to New Castle Indiana at 12 noon. Summit Lake has been upgraded to supply 50amp power also, so we're back since we can run both of our AC/heatpumps without worrying about low voltage. We are located near the small town we lived in for over 30 years and we return each spring and fall for various medical appointments, hair, veterinarian, broker and the like. Tomorrow it all kicks off with a early morning visit to the local vampires at the New Castle Clinic, after 3 rather full days we'll be done. We'll finish up our visit with dinner and a play date for Duchess in Muncie at Dave and Mark's with Baxter a fellow Scottie. Thursday morning we will have 5 days to cover the 600+ miles to Charlottesville VA to visit Jocelyn, Tom, Ronan and Aenea for a week. So begins our trek to Mission Texas for the winter.
Sunday, September 25, 2016
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Winding down. . .
The bad summer that would never end is about to close for us. We will be leaving northern Indiana on Friday and traveling south to visit with Mom for a day or two before we head to central Indiana and doctor appointments. Hopefully there won't be any more problems and we will be able to get the storage condo all closed up this week.
We were over yesterday to drop off Duchess while we went out to dinner with friends. When we got there the garage door was open. We are quite certain we did not leave it that way, but when Uncle Dan stopped by, he said it had been up for two days. While we were talking, Terry got to checking things and found a loose wire on the keypad. He fixed that and then changed the code to be sure no one had the combination for it. He's rather handy to have around.
I don't think that I mentioned the result of the neurosurgeon appointment. We had a good meeting and I was able to report that this epidural I had barely worked. I do feel better, but it doesn't cover all my activities. . . still had some breakthrough pain doing things like vacuuming. . . I know, I know. . .just don't do it. He believes that surgery will help me. I have spondylolisthesis, which refers to the forward displacement of a vertebral bone in relation to the natural curve of the spine, most commonly occurring after a fracture, and most often the fifth lumbar vertebra. I have two of these in my back. One I knew about when it was diagnosed at age 20 and another higher up in my back. It will require fusion of 4 vertebrae. They will also use "cages" and rods to stabilize it. It will take a year to heal and the fusions to adhere. We're thinking I will do this when I return to Indy in the spring for our doctor appointments. I think it would be a good move for me. I should be able to straighten up and to walk without a limp.
Sunday morning we got word that Terry's first cousins, Gary and 
Marty and their wives, Jo and Betty, we in a serious auto accident near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They were in Gary's truck, a Ford F-250 heavy duty crew cab diesel pickup with a long bed. They were stopped in traffic on I-12, ironically for an accident, when they were rear-ended by a tow truck. The tow truck was a flat bed, that they winch vehicles up on it. It was a much larger commercial truck and was 
doing 60 mph, never hitting his brakes. He ran over and pushed Gary's truck off to the side and another 450 yards (yes, I said that correctly) before it all came to a stop. The air bags did not deploy 
for some reason. The truck bed was smashed all the way to the back seat of the truck. Three of them had to be cut out of the truck. It is unbelievable that anyone survived when you see the pictures of the wreck. They have a variety of injuries, broken wrist, broken nose, multiple broken ribs, cuts, contusions and abrasions. They are all home from the hospital now and Marty and Betty have flown back to Michigan. In fact, we went to see them Friday night. Their daughter, who is a nurse, was there caring for them. They are recovering.
Meanwhile in Louisiana, Gary's sister, Shirley, drove down from Missisippi to care for them. It is wonderful they have family to help them in this time of need. They are doing okay now, but Gary has revisited the hospital twice, once for blood clots and once for arm pain. They still have many doctor appointments and tests to go yet and some things that haven't been resolved, but we just have to wait till they heal and recover from this devastating wreck. There may be some surgeries yet to come depending on the findings of the tests. Please keep them in your prayers, please.
We have been trying to find a different vehicle to two behind our motorhome. We really like our little Sport Trac, but would like to retire it. We still would like a little truck to tow but there are only two lightweight trucks and we didn't like the one we test drove. So we will keep looking and hope we find something. The little truck is still running fine, but she is 13 years old.
We have enjoyed dinner dates with friends and relatives recently. We try to touch base with everyone when we are here in the summer. This year was a little more difficult with so many things happening.
Till next time. . .
Dale
We were over yesterday to drop off Duchess while we went out to dinner with friends. When we got there the garage door was open. We are quite certain we did not leave it that way, but when Uncle Dan stopped by, he said it had been up for two days. While we were talking, Terry got to checking things and found a loose wire on the keypad. He fixed that and then changed the code to be sure no one had the combination for it. He's rather handy to have around.
I don't think that I mentioned the result of the neurosurgeon appointment. We had a good meeting and I was able to report that this epidural I had barely worked. I do feel better, but it doesn't cover all my activities. . . still had some breakthrough pain doing things like vacuuming. . . I know, I know. . .just don't do it. He believes that surgery will help me. I have spondylolisthesis, which refers to the forward displacement of a vertebral bone in relation to the natural curve of the spine, most commonly occurring after a fracture, and most often the fifth lumbar vertebra. I have two of these in my back. One I knew about when it was diagnosed at age 20 and another higher up in my back. It will require fusion of 4 vertebrae. They will also use "cages" and rods to stabilize it. It will take a year to heal and the fusions to adhere. We're thinking I will do this when I return to Indy in the spring for our doctor appointments. I think it would be a good move for me. I should be able to straighten up and to walk without a limp.
Sunday morning we got word that Terry's first cousins, Gary and 
Marty and their wives, Jo and Betty, we in a serious auto accident near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They were in Gary's truck, a Ford F-250 heavy duty crew cab diesel pickup with a long bed. They were stopped in traffic on I-12, ironically for an accident, when they were rear-ended by a tow truck. The tow truck was a flat bed, that they winch vehicles up on it. It was a much larger commercial truck and was 
doing 60 mph, never hitting his brakes. He ran over and pushed Gary's truck off to the side and another 450 yards (yes, I said that correctly) before it all came to a stop. The air bags did not deploy 
for some reason. The truck bed was smashed all the way to the back seat of the truck. Three of them had to be cut out of the truck. It is unbelievable that anyone survived when you see the pictures of the wreck. They have a variety of injuries, broken wrist, broken nose, multiple broken ribs, cuts, contusions and abrasions. They are all home from the hospital now and Marty and Betty have flown back to Michigan. In fact, we went to see them Friday night. Their daughter, who is a nurse, was there caring for them. They are recovering.
We have been trying to find a different vehicle to two behind our motorhome. We really like our little Sport Trac, but would like to retire it. We still would like a little truck to tow but there are only two lightweight trucks and we didn't like the one we test drove. So we will keep looking and hope we find something. The little truck is still running fine, but she is 13 years old.
We have enjoyed dinner dates with friends and relatives recently. We try to touch base with everyone when we are here in the summer. This year was a little more difficult with so many things happening.
Till next time. . .
Dale
Friday, September 09, 2016
Busy, busy, busy
When we got back from Amish country, we were able to park at Elkhart Campground once again. They have had so many rallies coming in and they are getting bigger and bigger, so it is hard to get a spot for a few weeks. If you can rent a spot for a month that is better and we are settled in nice and cozy. We have nice neighbors that are here for a while as well and we have made a lot of new acquaintances.
Duchess is making the transition to being an "only" dog. It's obvious she misses Butterscotch, but she is not exhibiting a lot of anxiety that Neal did when Bailey died. I think it really helped that she was there and with her friend when she died. She seems to understand that she isn't coming back. That has helped immensely.
We have spent some time down in Warsaw with Mom and helping rid her of some food stuffs she wants out of her trailer for the winter. Happy to oblige Mom! She now has bought her plane ticket and will be flying to Houston in November while we are there for Terry's cardiology appointment. We will then take her down to the valley with us. It will be a good trip.
Our little truck got sick and puked all over its engine a couple weeks ago. Since we were concerned that it happened in the manner it did, we didn't want to drive it, so we had her towed over to Bruce's. He was covered up and didn't get to it right away, but the news is mostly good. The puke was green and while most people screamed "antifreeze," it wasn't actually that. It was gelled which was a mystery to us, but not to Bruce. It was the dye he had earlier put into the A/C system to trace a leak. A pressure relief valve had popped off and that was what allowed the dye to escape. We actually could have driven it anywhere, but wouldn't have had A/C, which would not have been good the past few weeks. So we got her back the other day and all is well.
Speaking of the weather, we have had some hot, stormy weather, but mostly tons of rain. We are now enjoying some relief from the heat and yesterday and the next few days promise to be cooler and sunny days. Cooler, but still nice and warm during the day.
Unfortunately, there has been another death in the family. My brother-in-law Jim's father passed away last week. He was 96 and while no one was surprised, it is still hard to adjust to life without a parent. There will be a lot of decisions and changes to make in the next few months for the family. His calling and funeral will be Monday, the 12th. So starting in July when Daddy died, my niece's dog died, then our dog died, Jim's dad died and his little dog died as well. That's a lot for any family, so we hope we are done for awhile. We have stayed close to northern Indiana to try and be with and around family. It's been a bad few months.
We are ready to head south. . .
Till next time. . .
Dale
Duchess is making the transition to being an "only" dog. It's obvious she misses Butterscotch, but she is not exhibiting a lot of anxiety that Neal did when Bailey died. I think it really helped that she was there and with her friend when she died. She seems to understand that she isn't coming back. That has helped immensely.
We have spent some time down in Warsaw with Mom and helping rid her of some food stuffs she wants out of her trailer for the winter. Happy to oblige Mom! She now has bought her plane ticket and will be flying to Houston in November while we are there for Terry's cardiology appointment. We will then take her down to the valley with us. It will be a good trip.
Our little truck got sick and puked all over its engine a couple weeks ago. Since we were concerned that it happened in the manner it did, we didn't want to drive it, so we had her towed over to Bruce's. He was covered up and didn't get to it right away, but the news is mostly good. The puke was green and while most people screamed "antifreeze," it wasn't actually that. It was gelled which was a mystery to us, but not to Bruce. It was the dye he had earlier put into the A/C system to trace a leak. A pressure relief valve had popped off and that was what allowed the dye to escape. We actually could have driven it anywhere, but wouldn't have had A/C, which would not have been good the past few weeks. So we got her back the other day and all is well.
Speaking of the weather, we have had some hot, stormy weather, but mostly tons of rain. We are now enjoying some relief from the heat and yesterday and the next few days promise to be cooler and sunny days. Cooler, but still nice and warm during the day.
Unfortunately, there has been another death in the family. My brother-in-law Jim's father passed away last week. He was 96 and while no one was surprised, it is still hard to adjust to life without a parent. There will be a lot of decisions and changes to make in the next few months for the family. His calling and funeral will be Monday, the 12th. So starting in July when Daddy died, my niece's dog died, then our dog died, Jim's dad died and his little dog died as well. That's a lot for any family, so we hope we are done for awhile. We have stayed close to northern Indiana to try and be with and around family. It's been a bad few months.
We are ready to head south. . .
Till next time. . .
Dale
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