Shooting the Breeze 17-19
04-08-2019, 04:52 PM
#681
For Lainey: How I spent my retirement day (It will be 18 years on May 1).
Started the day with shorts & T-shirt to enjoy a wonderful 70° sunny day. Took a two mile walk. Ran the snowblower out of gas and stored it. Tried unsuccessfully to remove some bed bolts from my truck as I plan to drive to TN and pick up a new bed. Fixed my neighbor's mail box. Skipped lunch since I had a late breakfast. Helped the wife move a couple plants and get the water hose attached. Got a couple fold-up chairs and a table out of storage and enjoyed the view from the back porch while I had a Modelo and the wife had some wine while listening to music on her iPhone. Ordered some tickets for a hockey game in Grand Rapids on Wed. and made reservations for a couple days there at a B&B. Enjoyed some spare-ribs off the grill. Oiled up my impact gun to attack the bed bolts tomorrow. Sorry, I have no record of how many steps I took but it was a good all around. Soon I'll be watching my tape of the March Madness game. Yep, after all these years I still love retirement too.
Started the day with shorts & T-shirt to enjoy a wonderful 70° sunny day. Took a two mile walk. Ran the snowblower out of gas and stored it. Tried unsuccessfully to remove some bed bolts from my truck as I plan to drive to TN and pick up a new bed. Fixed my neighbor's mail box. Skipped lunch since I had a late breakfast. Helped the wife move a couple plants and get the water hose attached. Got a couple fold-up chairs and a table out of storage and enjoyed the view from the back porch while I had a Modelo and the wife had some wine while listening to music on her iPhone. Ordered some tickets for a hockey game in Grand Rapids on Wed. and made reservations for a couple days there at a B&B. Enjoyed some spare-ribs off the grill. Oiled up my impact gun to attack the bed bolts tomorrow. Sorry, I have no record of how many steps I took but it was a good all around. Soon I'll be watching my tape of the March Madness game. Yep, after all these years I still love retirement too.
04-08-2019, 05:11 PM
#683
I can relate, Dave. 80 degrees here today. Fixed bacon and eggs. Read the paper. Took the dog for a 30 minute walk. After Bea came home from yoga, went to Lowes, a small garden center, another garden center, and finally a large garden center shopping for pansies, shrubs, etc. That cost me $249 after a $50 gift certificate and 10% veterans discount. That's only the beginning with her! Stopped at Hardees on the way home for a chcken club in a lettuce wrap (no carbs, you know.) Helped her dig up the shrubs she wants to replace and helped plant a few. Finally got around to installing the Dash-Cam in the S. Running the wires behind the window trim was easy, but, boy, did my 74 year old back let me know how hard it is to hook up the power under the dash! Finally got it done and took it for a test run, and it performed perfectly. Love retiremnt as much as you!
Oh, just had a glass of wine and an Aleve!
Oh, just had a glass of wine and an Aleve!
04-08-2019, 05:22 PM
#684
My walk behind leaf blower can handle some snow if its not too deep. I know we have had some of our worst storms in April but not this year (you heard it first here).
04-08-2019, 05:23 PM
#685
We live exciting lives in retirement...........not everyone wants to hit the road. It's all good!
04-08-2019, 05:25 PM
#686
04-08-2019, 05:52 PM
#688
How's Dennis, Sue?
04-08-2019, 06:14 PM
#689
Thanks for asking, Lainey.
His pneumonia and dehydration are much improved. In fact, the bacterial culture for pneumonia has come back negative, but that does not mean that he did not have pneumonia. Apparently, the chest X-ray did show pneumonia.
He has had 4 different kinds of CAT scans which are all normal. They would have liked to do an MRI, but he cannot have that because of his defibrillator.
The EMG test (nerve to muscle conduction) came back normal, which is really excellent news because that test is used to diagnose some pretty scary degenerative diseases.
The endoscopy showed some minor issues, like a very small gastric ulcer and some signs of acid reflux.
The EMG team thought he might have had a small stroke that affected his throat muscles. However, the neurosurgical team (the stroke experts) don't think so because none of the CAT scans show evidence of that.
The main problem is he is not passing the swallow test. He's having another one tomorrow. He said that he is going to try really hard tomorrow because he doesn't want to come home and have to eat baby food. I highly doubt that it is a matter of not trying hard enough. Most of the time he has been there, he has been on a diet of only pureed foods and liquids thickened with nectar. He can't have any thin drinks like regular water, juice, tea, etc. And, no straws. He's not thrilled about the menu choices...pureed beef, pork, chicken, pureed scrambled eggs, pureed French toast, pureed waffles, and all kinds of other pureed foods. The chocolate pudding is not bad, though, as he gave that to me several times because he was too full of other pureed foods.
Seems that Dennis might have passed his cold on to me. I don't have much symptoms, just a tiny sore throat, but both of my ears are blocked and I can hardly hear. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow morning. I already had an appointment for a regular 6 month followup. Seems that now that I am over 70, the doctor wants to see me every 6 months. That is fine with me.
His pneumonia and dehydration are much improved. In fact, the bacterial culture for pneumonia has come back negative, but that does not mean that he did not have pneumonia. Apparently, the chest X-ray did show pneumonia.
He has had 4 different kinds of CAT scans which are all normal. They would have liked to do an MRI, but he cannot have that because of his defibrillator.
The EMG test (nerve to muscle conduction) came back normal, which is really excellent news because that test is used to diagnose some pretty scary degenerative diseases.
The endoscopy showed some minor issues, like a very small gastric ulcer and some signs of acid reflux.
The EMG team thought he might have had a small stroke that affected his throat muscles. However, the neurosurgical team (the stroke experts) don't think so because none of the CAT scans show evidence of that.
The main problem is he is not passing the swallow test. He's having another one tomorrow. He said that he is going to try really hard tomorrow because he doesn't want to come home and have to eat baby food. I highly doubt that it is a matter of not trying hard enough. Most of the time he has been there, he has been on a diet of only pureed foods and liquids thickened with nectar. He can't have any thin drinks like regular water, juice, tea, etc. And, no straws. He's not thrilled about the menu choices...pureed beef, pork, chicken, pureed scrambled eggs, pureed French toast, pureed waffles, and all kinds of other pureed foods. The chocolate pudding is not bad, though, as he gave that to me several times because he was too full of other pureed foods.
Seems that Dennis might have passed his cold on to me. I don't have much symptoms, just a tiny sore throat, but both of my ears are blocked and I can hardly hear. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow morning. I already had an appointment for a regular 6 month followup. Seems that now that I am over 70, the doctor wants to see me every 6 months. That is fine with me.