Surgery and Recovery (The Final Chapter, I Hope)

Recovery is really a state of mind. There are so many ebbs and tides in the process. I find myself either very depressed with the lack of progress and the abundance of pain or very excited about being able to accomplish something, even so small. I have appreciated everyone's prayers for my health and welfare. Kids at my school made me a huge card which I put up in my recovery room in the downstairs pf my house. It was constant reminder of the great relationship I have with the 300 kids that I work with every week. I love my students and wanted to be back at work to be with them.They gave me motivation. On the other hand when I couldn't I would get a 'down' feeling.
One of my students the day before my surgery asked me, 'aren't you afraid' I replied that I believe in God and I know that he was watching over me and it was his will. That night I saw a story on TV about a young girl in India who was going to have surgery the same day as me who was born with eight limbs and was going to have four of them removed. My 'litle' back surgery seemed pretty insignificant in the scheme of things. If she could go through that, mine would be a piece of cake.
Each week I would grow stronger. For example,the week before I would not be able to turn over from one side to another without grabbing the rails on the bed but now I could flip myself over without grabbing hold. That might seem insignificant, but to a recoverer it was a milestone. The first time going outside was a psychological lift. The first drive in the car was awesome. The first time I could go to the fridge by myself and retrieve food was like climbing Everest. Last Sunday I was able to go to church for the first time in seven weeks. It was a very uplifting experience for me and I was real psyched. It has made this week very special to me.
The days I drove off and went to school for a couple of hours were very important, even though on most occasions I was in great pain and fatigued afterwards. I got to feel like I was a part of the school again. Seeing colleagues and students brought joy to my heart. Don't tell my doctor,please.
On the otherhand the down times were plentiful. Falling off the couch, dropping something on the floor and not being able to retrieve it(that's why I had to get the super-dooper picker upper), watching your cat throw up all over the floor early in the morning and having to watch it all day until your wife came home- these are all very depressing to the macho, testosterone laden guy that I am. I think the biggest low was not being able to sleep in the same bed with my wife. If you are married you would know what I mean. Her very presence is always comforting to me. It was a great relief in the fifth week to move upstairs to the 'bigboy' bed . Having a numbness in my left foot is still a big setback to me since it makes it difficult to walk. Mr. cane and I are constant companions because of this. Everyone from my wife to my doctor tell me to be patient and it will heal up sometime. Of course you have read about some of my other setbacks.
So you can see where your psyche is important in the recovery stage. I will not have a full recovery for a long time. I will wait for this to happen. I will be patient. I will continue to pray daily for my health and the health of many others. As we approach this joyous season of celebrating the birth of Christ I will be very cognizant of his prescence in my life. With his help and the help of my friends, my family and my students I know that this last chapter will come to a conclusion. When? Only He knows.

Surgery and Recovery (Part Three)

Everything was going very well with my recovery except that my back was itchy and burning at night when I lay on it and during the day when brace was tightened around it. I had called the doctor's office a couple of times about it, especially since it looked a little swollen around the incision. They just told me that it was normal as along as I had no fever. Now I was taking my temperature about five times a day checking for a fever. At the end of the four weeks I had a scheduled doctor's appointment with my surgeon so when he asked me how everything was going I told him about the incision. He had me show it to him and I could tell by his expression that everything was not well. He stated that I had an infection in the incision and that I would have to start a round of antibiotics. He looked at it again and he said to go down to the other room so he could 'lance' it. Well the 'other room' is a small in house surgery where they do minor procedures. The nurse got me half undressed and then proceded to take out a lot of instruments that did not look like a whole lot of fun unless you were into sado-masoschism. The doctor came in, sat down behind me, took out some of those instruments, the sharper ones, and said that 'this might hurt'. Anytime a doctor tells you that, 'might' means that it WILL hurt. He then cut my back in three places to drain off the fluid that had built up back there. Now it REALLY hurt. There was no might about it. I told him that in the movies don't they give a man a shot of whiskey when they cut him open without anaethesia. He chuckeled, easy for him, and replied that this is South Texas so I could have some tequilla. I said , 'bring it on and quick'! No such luck! The nurse put the bandages on again and gave me some to take home so my caring wife could dress my back again each day and when I showered.
I had one other issue that had been bothering me. My left foot was still very numb by the big toe and the instep. The doctor said that that will take time for it to heal. The nerves had been stretched out so much on that sided that it takes a while to come back. Please come back soon because I walk funny with the foot like that and even stumble a bit when that toe does not want to work the way I want it to. The bikg toe, I have found really controls your ability to walk correctly. I never want to lose that toe.

Surgery and Recovery( Part Two)

Now I am home. My wife is working and during the day I lay in bed, the downstairs bedroom. She puts all my food for breakfast and lunch in a cooler in the living room since I can't lift more than five pounds and can't bend over.Refrigerators are not back friendly. I have found out after 37 years how strong my wife really is. I was the cook in the family and actually did a lot of the housework, especially after I retired from 39 years of coaching swimming a few years back. Now she has to work at her school, come home and cook and clean, prepare lessons and get me ready for the next day. On top of that she is changing my bandages, getting me showered and dried off( that was actually fun for me), making sure I have my meds etc.
After a few days I couldn't handle the pain and I called my doctor at his house and asked for more pain meds. He increased them to 3 pills every four hours and gave me a script for muscle relaxers. That helped me have better sleeps. I was getting huge full body spasms called nocturnal temors (should have been renamed to nighttime body earthquakes). They made me feel like my body was breaking in half. This made my back hurt even more.
The first week I had no visitors but people phoned me. Now I know they were only trying to be friendly and caring but it seemed that I just got back to sleep when the phone would ring. But it was always nice to hear another humans voice on the phone. The only companionship I had were our three cats and my dog, Pax. Pax for the first little while did not understand why I was home and had to lay on 'his' couch during the day. We had some standoffs over couch possession. I would tell him to get up and he would look at me like he owned the place. I'm sure if he had a middle finger he would have given it to me.
A wonderful lady from our church, Lisa, came to visit me the second week. Lisa is a caring, devoted Christian lady. Her sons play in the praise band at our church that I sing in. She is also the chairman of a committee we are on together. She brought me a book to read that I have used as a daily 'devotional'. I look forward to her weekly fellowship as we have made it a 'date' each week. She has been a godsend to me. My retired neighbor also visits me regularly as well as some other people who pop in to see me. It is good to know you have some friends who call you or visit you when you are 'down' Because of this I am now calling weekly another lady in our praise group who is homebound with breast cancer and inner ear problems. 'Pay it forward' is a good philosophy to live by.
Another source of comfort and companionship was my laptop and two very important programs on it- Skype and MSN webcam messenger. I talk to my father in law in Canada, my brother and sister in law in the Philippines, my niece in British Columbia, my wife's best friend in the Dominican Republic and my two good friends in Italy, Laurence and Lilianna.
Remember my two new friends, brace and walker. We have gotten to know each other well. At first I could not walk without walker and brace. They were my lifelines to getting from room to room- kitchen, bathroom, living room, bedroom. Brace and I will be together for the next three months. After the third week walker and I had a parting of the ways except for those mid-night bathroom stops.(thanks cathetor!)I now had to do more and more walking by myself. Boy,had my quads, my beautiful bike riding quads, gotten smaller. It was like an old man or a young toddler walking around on my own. Hands out for balance, one step at a time. Little Blake, my grandson, got around better than I did. It was about this time that I decided that the stairs had to be mastered. Walking up would tire me out so I would lay down on my own bed up there for a half hour or so before going back down. I made a little circuit of walking around the house in circles, up and down the stairs, for eventually 20 minutes at a time. I would add the weightless quad lift on the upstairs weight machine to the routine later. I had to get stronger. I longed to go outside.
Finally I got to go with my wife into Boerne to walk the main street with her. I never was so tired and sore in my life. But it motivated me to do more and to get out more often. I started walking the 400 foot road from the house to the mailbox at first holding on to my wife, then holding onto the trees and finally with the use of a cane that Lisa brought me. Her boys picked it out. The handle was in the shape of an elephant. I call it my ELLEYphant cane. I was feeling a bit better.
I was feeling so good that in the fourth week I got in my wife's car and drove the 32 miles to my school to see my students and my wonderful teaching partner, Anita. I missed my friends at school. Phone calls and emails just didn't cut it. It was agood, but tiring experience. Everything was going too good. It was time for a setback.

Surgery and Recovery(Part One)

Finally my back gave out and it was time to have surgery. Therapy, meds, shots, exercise- all had failed. The doctor looked at my MRI and said- "Looks like you are going to need surgery on that back of yours". I agreed. Now I'm not so sure that I should have.
Everybody tells me, by this time next year you won't even remember all this. I hope so because I sure am having a hard time forgetting it now.
I had to get a fusion in the lumbar area. This included putting in two cages in my vertebrae section, srewing in some plates, getting rid of the old discs, doing a bone graft and stretching out the nerves that had been compressed for so long. Sounds easy, doesn't it.
Now if you take your car in to get repaired you might leave it there for a few days and when you pick it up from the shop it runs smoothly, almost like it did when you bought it. Not so with surgery. You wake up in the hospital after your surgery, tubes in your arms, in your private areas and drains in your back. You are incoherent, your vision is blurred and faces of technicians and nurses are coming at you so rapidly that your eyes are flashing like hallucinigenic dreams. You are told that if you hurt you can push this button so the morphine in it can mask your pain. That is just the beginning.
The next few days are filled with people waking you up during the night several times to give you the necessary meds, to check on your blood pressure and heart rate and make sure that you are 'sleeping ok'. During your waking hours you are taken for walks with your two new friends, the walker and the brace. It is then that you realize that one of your legs doesn't want to work too well. It seems heavy and numb. I was sure that before I came to the hospital that it was working fine. Twenty four hours ago I could walk fine but now I feel like I should be in a ' Cacoon' movie.
Finally they let you go home after a few days in the hospital. (Truthfully, they did an excellent job preparing me for my departure.) I get to take my new aforementioned friends home with me. My wife drives me home trying to be careful in our little car, but the back hurts anyway. With each bump the pain is magnified. We get home and for the first time I have to try to hobble up the small rise to the house where two months of recovery await me. The doctor told me that the recovery time ranged from two weeks to two months. I had hoped for the two weeks but instead got the two months. I would learn what PAIN really meant!

I know It's Been a While!

After taking an hiatus for a couple of months it is time to get back to writing. I have no excuses. In August we traveled a lot, going to Canada to visit family. We got to stay in my brother-in-law's lakehouse on beautiful Lake Huron. The weather was terrific and my sister-in-law and myself did some mountain biking and lake swimming. She almost got us lost in the woods on one ride and we actually swam a mile along the shore of this vast cool lake. Compared to our warm water in Texas it was quite a shock to the system. It reminded me of going into the Lake Fiastra waters in the Sibellini mountains near Sarnano, Italy. Very cold. We got to visit family and friends and had some memorable moments there. It was also exciting since daughter and grandson traveled with us.
It also was 'get back to work time' and this was very hectic. We also got to visit with my daughter, husband and grandson in East Texas twice in the past few months. They also came to visit us. It is so awesome to see him develop, learning new words and skills. He is a smartie and a cutie also. We took him to the Kendall County Fair and his reactions to the parade, the animals and the carnival were priceless.
I have also been busy dealing with some health issues. My back might require surgery since I have run out of other options. My swimming and cycling is at at standstill due to so much pain. That depresses me since I did that about five or six times a week in the summer. My wife had surgery in August and took some time to recover.
We are looking forward to a trip to Europe with some close friends in the summer so I need to get healthy. We have planned it out, got some of our arrangements taken care of- air travel, some accomodations, etc. It will be different for us to travel with someone else. We will spend the majority of our time in Italy and are excited to get back! The darn dollar is still a mess but we are not going to let that spoil our time. As we say in the education business- monitor and adjust!

Rain, Rain and more Rain!I

I'm getting ready to build the ark. I have assembled two animals of each specie I can get my hands on. The dogs, cats, birds, fish, rabbits, deer, racoons, possums, porcupines, squirrels, skunks, etc. all which inhabit my property are ready to go.
It has rained for 48 of the last 62 days here in the Texas Hill Country. Biblically I think that is enough days to launch the ark. The river at the end of the road is overflowing it's banks and will take us eventually to the Gulf of Mexico. There we will seek out dry land and wait for the sign. Perhaps a dove with a cedar branch, since we are real low on olive branches in this area. I'll throw in a couple of doves for good measure. They are all over the place here. I noticed they are fattening themselves up for the journey. Certainly that is a sign. I'm having a problem talking my good wife into helping me propagate the new race since we are really getting too old for that nonsense. Perhaps there can be some type of immaculate conception here. That would save me some bother, though I don't think she would be too happy. I look out the window. The rain has stopped for awhile. Perhaps I can disassemble the ark and work on my back deck again. Maybe I'm not the chosen one afterall.

It's Been a Year

A year ago we were in Kansas anxiously awaiting the birth of our grandson. I remember that day vividly. My daughter was getting induced and we all went to the hospital to wait it out. We were there from early morning to late in the afternoon, the grandparents(all four of us), nurses, doctors and OB technicians. They all were so wonderful and took good care of our only child and our unborn grandson. After awhile we got kicked out but my wife got to stay and watch the birth. I wanted to but my daughter wouldn't let me. Well after a few minutes we had a beautiful grandson. What a gift from God. It's hard to believe it's been a year. Lots of things have happened. He speaks a few words, walks a little, developed his own personality and gets into everything. Last week they moved to East Texas and we got to give him a birthday present, a new infant swing for for his swing set in the back yard. He thoroughly enjoys it. Happy Birthday!, little guy.

Doctors, Doctors, Doctors....

Last Thursday was my day to see the doctors. I planned to visit three in one day. My first stop was at 8:00 am and I went to an imaging place to get my thyroid tested with an ultrasound. This was to be a recheck to see if the nodules on my thyroid had changed. The technician was a rather large lady who put my portly shape in perspective. She had a set of hands, stronger than mine for sure. She prodded and pushed that machine into my throat like there was no tomorrow. After about 20 minutes of this I was free to go. I left in a hurry and headed to a gas station that I had seen on TV that was close to the medical center where they were selling gas for $2.77 a gallon. I can't believe I was getting excited about that price. In Italy the people pay over $5.00 a gallon and we complain when it approaches $3.00. I next went to a small taco place for a couple of tacos and a coffee before I headed to my next appointment.
This was at another imaging place. This time it was for a brain MRI. I think people had long wondered if I really had a brain, especially my mom who would yell at me, 'Mark use your brain!' When I got there I was promptly put into a cubicle to put on some paper shorts, which immediately ripped in the crotch. They then put me on a plastic table and strapped me in. They then slid me into a plastic tube,or should I say,'tomb'. I'm glad they gave me earplugs because the symphony of hammering sounds was way too much for my ears. I looked up and imagined being buried alive( I've got to stop reading those mystery novels). After about 20 minutes of this torture they slid me out, filled my arm full of dye and did another 10 minutes of pictures. It's hard to believe I was actually paying for this. They then sent me on my way.
After a casual lunch with a panini, a stop at a bookstore and some mystery reading and a purchase of some fragrant hand soap I was on my way to the last appointment. This one was with the dreaded urologist.Now he is a nice guy and didn't have too much torture in store for me. First they weighed me(ouch!), then took my blood pressure- real good. Then a pretty young nurse came in and pulled my pants down, placed her hand on my crotch(not kidding) and gave me a bladder scan. She took blood from my left arm( the right one was already filled with holes from the dye), and told me to wait for the doctor. After a few minutes he was in and had me strip down and bend over as he put on the dreaded laytex glove. After a few moments of agonizing pain he said I was OK and sent me on my way.
Now I'm not into 'S and M' but you would have thought it. Doctors are necessary for us to live. I wonder if I will get this 'good' treatment when we are in Italy. A national health care plan is not like what we do here. I know, I lived in Can ada. I guess I 'paid' the price of maintaining my health. I'll let you know how the tests turn out.

The Old Number '9'

You are probably wondering what the Old Number '9' refers to. It's the hiking/running/biking trail that circumsects part of the town of Boerne.This is where my wife and I often bike, especially if we are in town invariably we include part, if not all of the trail. At this time of the year it explodes with the smells of frangrant trees and the colors of the Texas wildflowers( the rains of May have brought us an abundant supply of wildflowers).
It was named after a train( the San Antonio and Aransas Railway) that used to serve Boerne in the 19th century. It connected San Antonio with Kerrville and then connected to the German town of Fredericksburg. On weekends many Boerneites would travel into San Antonio or further North into the Hill Country to shop, visit or recreate. Today the trail was part of my morning ride. I connected it with the downtown and the Cibolo Nature center. The Nature Center trails were alive with deer, waterfalls, wildflowers of all sorts and of course, the endless supply of birds and butterflies. I concluded this ride with a stop at 'the Daily Grind' where I simulated the times we sat in outdoor cafes in Italy, especially Sarnano, and watched the people go by and the business of the town happen. Later in the afternoon after a thorough cleaning up of our garage I took our dog, Pax to the Cibolo Creek so he could wade in the water and chase things. She really enjoyed her outing. She will be my constant companion since my wife flew off to Kansas where she will be helping our daughter and her family get ready for their move. I already miss her.

A View from The Hammock

School is out so it means we wearied educators get a much deserved break from the throngs of gigggling, silly students. Of course they get a much needed break from us.
What does one do with all that newfound free time? Some travel. I like that option and by this time next year I have a summer of traveling planned. As it is this summer will take us to Wichita, Lufkin and Canada. However, much of my early free time is being spent on much needed projects around the house. My wife and I also get to spend lots of hours outside, some of it in gardening and working on our two acres of property, but a lot of it is spent in the hammock.
Now what does one do in the hammock?( keep your dirty thoughts to yourself- I'm too old for that).Usually I read since it is so peaceful in our back yard. Sometimes I watch the flowers grow and the butterflies enjoying them(see an earlier entry on that pastime). Today I got to be serenaded by the most beautiful assortment of birds.
We had classical music playing on our outoor intercom system, but in the background the birds were going crazy playing their own minuets and chorales with their trills and puctuating high notes. They were also flitting around like I have never seen them before. The cardinal was interacting with the wren and the blue jay with the chickadee. It was like the muscic in the background inspired them to put on their own outdoor concert. It was a beautiful blend of man made music and the God made harmony of the birds. It lulled my wife to sleep, one of her favorite pastimes in the hammock if the mood is right. Today the view from the hammock was the sounds from the hammock. I think I need to lay back down now and relax.

Cycling with My Wife

When we move to Italy we want to use our bicycles a lot. Many people in Italy, as in other European countries, cycle from place to place. Many use their bikes to go to the market. We would love to do the same.
Now it's not easy to go biking with one's spouse. Usually the male is stronger( not trying to be sexist) and has to do a lot of circling around so the female can catch up. Also there are the usual mechanical problems- chains, seats etc. This Monday, Memorial day, all these proved to be true. I have to give credit to my wife since she likes to go cycling with me. We went out on a road in the huge ranch behind our property. We take the truck so we can go up the steep hill(miniature mountain)without riding on it. We park the truck, unload the bikes and proceed to ride.
Lynda, my wife, has a strained wrist so it is hard for her to ride right now( as you will see later it affected her mind). I did my share of circling back, fixed her seat level and we returned to the truck after a few miles. I gave her my keys with instructions to pick me up on the road which returned to our house. It was a beautiful day so I wanted to ride more.There were beautiful butterflies on the thistle patches, birds of all colors, goats and donkeys, cattle and horses and if I was lucky I might even be able to see the magnificent caribou that were on the wild game ranch. I was having a good ride and was waiting for Lynda to come by in the little red truck so I could motion to her to pick me up. No Lynda, no truck. I was climbing a hill and I thought I heard a truck behind me. No luck, wrong truck. I stopped and waited. I was getting tired and hot at this point. Finally I got my cell phone out and called her on hers. She had been having a 'blonde' moment as she was still waiting with the truck where we had left it. She has selective hearing and didn't pick up the phrase-'pick me up on the road'. To her it sounded like wait until I return. She hadn't even loaded her bike on the truck. So in the noon day sun I waited. Finally down the road came our little red truck and my lovely wife. She opened the door, I gave her a grave look and she laughed. End of story.

A Skunk is Still a Skunk!

This past week I have been involved in our school district's Nature Venture program for 6th grade students. This year I was the chairman for the event. This meant a lot of pre -planning in order to get over 800 gifted sixth graders to a nature park in the middle of San Antonio, Tx. We set up 29 different events at this site. Little did I know that I would be on 'skunk' patrol.
Now skunks are beautiful animals but are often, as most people know, a little annoying, but often misunderstood. They not only can shower you with long lasting odors, but also can carry life threatening diseases. Now when you get a report of a skunk near 400 students you move fast. This old body does not move too fast these days, unless it is on a bike. My partner, Anita, radioed me that there was a skunk near one of our activities so I 'quickly' moved to that area. She kept me in contact with the skunk as it moved from one area to another. The other facilitators that were listening to us on our walkie talkies must have busted a gut laughing at us as we kept giving updates about this tiny little critter who was making me walk all over the place. I kept the little guy in view as he circled activity after activity. I also told everyone I came in contact with to leave it be so they would not be wearing the skunk home, if you get my drift. Nature Venture is one thing but interacting too directly in nature is another. We were messing up this poor little guy's habitat considerably, as if the torrential rains of the previous days had not already done so. I watched( and smelled) the skunk disappear into the woods and I was satisfied he was not going to bother us any more.
This is not the end of the skunk's tale. Later that day in another area of the park I was driving my car with two of my colleagues in it when Ms. Skunk appeaared
on the road trying to get a drink from the water5 running across the road. The ladies I was with were pleading with me to stop and turn around s o they wouldn't feel the wrath of the critter but being myself, a risk taker, I slowly eased the car down towards the skunk to get a closer look. The skunk just ambled off in the tall grass near the pond. Later the next day another coworker saw Ms.Skunk walking towards a wooden bridge with food in its mouth to feed it's young who were hiding there. The skunk did not bother us if we left it alone. I guess the moral of this is that if we all learned to recognize each other's differences, whether it be race or religion, like the skunk who learned to not let 400 children bother it, we too could coexist in this world with others who seem different.
By the way there are no skunks in Italy.

Butterflies are Free!

It is officially spring. As I was lounging in my hammock in the back yard reading a mystery novel, 'The Last Templar', which my friend CJ had given to me, I looked up over at the flowers I had planted and there were butterflies everywhere. All different kinds of them- yellow ones, monarchs, swallowtails etc. You see if I didn't plant so many flowers and herbs there would not be any butterflies. They are a symbol of the resurrection of our life. They have gone through their life cycle and feed off the beautiful flowers that we plant. They share the blossoms with the adorable hummingbird, God's helicopter, the bees and of course the nasty red wasps. They were even flirting with each other as they flitted through the air, letting the breeze take them up higher and into the forest. I looked at them and remarked to myself, 'this is good'. The freedom of the butterflies as they wispfully hover over the colors of the blossoms remind me of how wonderful this world can be and how God has put every creature on this earth for a reason. I urge everyone to plant a flower or a vegetable so that butterflies will always be free.

Making Wine

This has been a long process. Our friends CJ and Susan and ouselves decided we would make some wine. Being the good Italian lover that I am I found a local 'Water to Wine' store and we all went in to test their wines to decide on which ones we would like to make. Now this is not an easy process so we had to test many reds and whites. Finally we narrowed it down to one red, a 'Barolo' style and one white, a Pinot Gris. We put in the concentrates, the yeast, the oak etc. and after thorough mixings and testing they were ready to age in buckets.
A month or so later we came back to visit our 'babies'. They had been transferred to clear bottles and were percolating nicely. We tasted some new wines they had, very generous tastings and bought a few bottles. CJ and Susan seem to love the process. We are taking them with us to Italy to see the real thing next year.
Last Friday was B-Day, bottling day. We came in, after we had sent our labels in to get done. Thank goodness they had not been printed yet since I had sent a picture of our old red truck instead of our house for our labels. We bottled, corked. foiled and labeled 29 bottles of each, testing some as we went. It needed aging so they put some on 'aging magnets' which helped alot. After celebrating our 'children' Lynda, CJ, Susan and myself had a great dinner and dreams of Italy danced in our heads.

Getting an Award

It's been a busy week. Besides clearing brush and burning brush I have been working in the gardens. However, I had to take time from my busy schedule to drive down to Corpus Christi to receive an award. Now, I'm not about awards, but if someone is going to give me one, I'll take it. This was a special award- Texas Educator of the Year. This was given to me by a group dedicated to the preservation of Texas history, the Sons of the Republic of Texas. It was great honor. I even met Sam Houston IV. The irony of this is that I'm probably the only Canadian that has ever received this award. To be in the Sons of the Republic you must be able to trace your ancestry back to someone who fought in the Texas Revolution. The dinner was very good with chicken Dijon as the main course. They served an excellent chilled pecan pie for dessert. My wife Lynda accompanied me to Corpus and we got to see the beach at Corpus, probably for the last time. By the way the dollar is now at 1.35.4 to the Euro. I hope when I retire it will be better. Nothing I can do about it, but it deserves watching. We are planning our next trip to Italy as I write.

The Apple of My Eye

If anything stops us from moving to Italy it will be our grandson, Blake. He is so adorable and smart. Everyday we watch him on the webcam. Our daughter is set up in her basement and we see him doing all sorts of tricks. He talks and walks all over the place. His latest trick is to push his large Fisher Price piano all over their basement. He gets into corners and sometimes can manouver himself out of tight jams. He resembles a little old man pushing a walker, but only twice as fast. I guess we will be able to watch him on the webcam in Italy. By then he will be able to talk to us in sentences and God only knows what other 'tricks' he will have up his sleeve. He is only nine months old but it seems like evry day there is something new he does. Our daughter and her husband are moving back to Texas soon and will 'only be five hours from us instead of ten hours as they are now. All you who have grandchildren can relate to what I have said. I'll keep you posted.

putting in the garden

I'm outside working in my garden, just like a true Italian would be doing. It's finally stopped raining in South Texas and the sun is out. I'm trying a new technique of 'no til gardening' where you break up the ground with a pitchfork and add a layer of compost. You then wait a few days to put in your plants. We have been growing cucumbers and squash in pots from seeds and are anxious to get them in the ground. After church tomorrow I plan on buying some tomato plants to put in the ground. I'm out there listening to Josh Groban CDs and all I can think of is our days in Italy. The last time we were there we were looking for property with gardens. If we end up going the apartment route we will have to do a terrazzo garden or rent a small plot to grow on which is readily available in the Sarnano area. I guess I could grow a winter garden in Texas and a summer garden in Italy. The best of both worlds. Gardening is a passion along with cooking what I grow. Speaking about food. My old truck driver student from Canada, George, who has been making a run to Mexico weekly brought us some homemade Ukrainian perogis. It's been great to hook up with him again after 30 some odd years. We used to do so many outdoor education trips together back in Ontario and we share the love of the outdoors together. Someday I'll write about my 'George' story for you. Gotta go back to work while the sun is still great.

The Dollar is a Concern

My wife Lynda and I are getting ready for a move to Italy in two years when we retire. We have been traveling to Sarnano, Italy and looking for property. We almost bought a house in November there but the dollar tumbled and has continued to tumble recently. This house had everything we were looking for in a place there. It was even furnished. We got approved for a mortgage and I think we could have afforded it since the price was right. Unfortunately the US government has made it impossible at this time to purchase with the dollar being $1.33 to the Euro. One year ago it was around $1.19. That is quite a change. We might have to change our plans and purchase a cheaper apartment instead of a single home. We have done lots of research but need to take more time. Hopefully in two years the Democrats will have rectified this situation. Perhaps we will not be spending billions on war also. God bless the troops but bring them home soon.