Making Great Strides

This week I saw good progress on several counts.  I was getting back into shape at the gym, covering more ground on my walks, riding Amiga more, and even taking more opportunities than usual to go dancing.  Also, execution of the current phase of house renovation advanced to near completion.  The only thing I hated to see gain ground, was the ending of another summer.


Sunday 8/12 - I sat with Lisa and Nolan in Church again.

I took Maggie on a 90 minute long dog walk and then did lots of picking up, straightening out, and cleaning around the house.  I felt like I was gaining ground on the construction mess, and even getting more spring cleaning done that didn't happen earlier this year.



Patty picked me up a little after 4:00 and we met Jan at the barn and went for a 90 minute ride together.  Zorro did very well and Patty rides him wonderfully (video).







Patty took this photo of me out in front on Amiga, followed by Cash and then Zorro.

We worked on obstacles again, and Zorro did them all except walking on the tarp.  Seen left, I got Amiga to stand with her front feet up on a stump.  

It was getting dark by the time we headed home.  I hate that nightfall is coming so much earlier these days.

I had forgotten to do my "homework" with paint samples, so quick got out the three different cans and put swipes of the colors on the wall.  One was a perfect match.

Monday 8/13 - Travis arrived early because today was the first day of school and he had dropped his two kids off and come straight here.  We talked paint colors and then I locked the cats in the sunroom as usual so Travis and Phil could work without cats underfoot.








I tried to get this blog started, but was distracted by other internet searches.  When I took the above photo of Monita napping right by my right arm mouse hand, she woke up and yawned.  The photo of that looks more like she is yowling.



Ballroom was cancelled again (until after Labor Day) so I got in a good weight workout.  I even did extra abdominal crunches while waiting for the last machine to finish my whole circuit.

A quick change and I was off to the barn.  I rode Amiga bareback, at a slow easy walk with some grazing time.  Then Jan arrived and drove she and I to Stradford Circle and we went to work on the Holly trail.







At the creek crossing, Jan turned back and did more clearing all the way to her car.  I continued on across the creek and up the hill, clearing roots, rocks, low weeds and overhead branches as I went.  I took this photo to show how close the trail was to the golf cart path.



By the time I got back to the barn, I had been out working for three hours and was thoroughly exhausted.  I had to hustle home, shower quickly, and then Joe and I headed to Mirror Lake Blast where Shirley and Patty had spots saved for our seats.  We enjoyed the band even though there was not a lot of dance songs.  It was just good old fun bluegrass with some foot stompin' and singing along.  I did dance when dance tunes were played, but being so tired, it was just as well there wasn't a huge amount of it.

Tuesday 8/14 - Monita woke me up vomiting on our bed at 2:00.  It was probably 3:00 by the time I had it cleaned up and fell back to sleep.  Then again at 4:30 she did the same thing, but it was a smaller mess and I stayed up the second time.

Patty had worked with Zorro, on the ground, with tarp crossing.  She did great, transitioning him to walk across the tarp, and Zorro was a good student.  Jo took a video of Zorro walking across the tarp without hesitation and this was my attempt to capture one photo from it.  My photo editing program was automatically up-dated and doesn't work like it used to.  I wish they would leave computer programs alone.  Once we old farts figure a program out it is difficult to un-learn and re-learn the new operations.







I went to the barn to wrangle our two Paso Finos for the farrier.  I asked him about Zorro's hoof care with the additional riding.  He said if Zorro has issues, we will try shoes on the front to begin with.  But as long as he is not bothered by the riding, we will continue barefoot.

Phil and Travis were hard at work when I left for my pool shift.

Home from work at 7:15, I inspected the work that the crew was now done with inside.  The brown water spots were completely covered and totally un-noticeable.  The hole in the ceiling was patched well, but I can tell a slight difference in paint color.  The new paint will fade, get dusty in time, and blend right in hopefully.

Wet and Wild Wednesday 8/15 - This was the day for our monthly pool party that I attended from 2-6 as a guest (rather than having to work it).










Starting with the morning, I spent more time than intended here at my computer.  It was so good to know that Courtney had finally turn the corner and was making great strides in her healing process.  She still throws up about every other day and feels nauseous much of the time, but continues to press forward as she overcomes pancreatitis.

I did work out at the gym and then go to Food City to pick up fruit to share at the pool party.  

At home, with most of the work done inside, the construction crew was concentrating their efforts on the outside of the house.  







I threw on my suit and headed to the pool where I met Patty. 

The band, Memory Road (with Gibbs and Dennis) were our music entertainment for two hours.  They played music we grew up with so there was singing and some dancing as we enjoyed them, in and around the pool.  

Then as they packed up, bets were made for the first horse race.  It was a photo finish as the jockeys rode their horses toward the finish line.

Two more races were run as the crowd slowly thinned out.  Another beautiful day and fun pool party was experienced.  

I arrived home at 6:30 to feed animals dinner.  I was delighted to see that our garage was cleared out and I was able to park in it for the first time in several weeks.

Maggie and I walked the back nine of Druid, getting around it in 47 minutes.  Then sleep came soon and easily.

Thursday 8/16 - I did not take any photos all day, so will include a few more from the pool party.  I went in to work 30 minutes early to finish up any extra cleaning MJ did not have time to get to the night before.  


It was clouding up as I left my shift at 1:45.  By the time I got home, rain was eminent.  It was thundering as I sat on the porch swing in my loungers to read the paper.  

Soon the Druid Golf Course 'clear the course' warning horn sounded and the wind

and rain hit.  About the third page into the paper, I got so tired, I laid it and myself down, and took a nap on the porch swing with the sound of rain all around.

I spoke with Courtney on the phone.  Her day's appointment with her gall bladder surgeon went well, and he was not going to treat any existing symptoms (nausea, some vomiting and an abdominal fluid sac) because she was improving.  She also said her dentist appointment the day before had gone well, although he did see some demineralization.  He said the fluoride treatment in February had helped protect her teeth, and they did another fluoride treatment after her cleaning. 

Joe and I joined Andy, Brian, Rita, and Michelle at Ruby Tuesday's for a tummy filling dinner.  I walked Maggie for 30 minutes once we got home and read in bed, one chapter, before I got too tired to continue.

Friday 8/17 - Rain was coming so after my first cup of tea, I took photos of the mostly finished, outside of the house.

All the boards along the roof line that had been touching it and gotten wet and rotten, are now all replaced.

The new cedar siding and calk was now painted, including the fireplace.  The only thing left to do was to install the outdoor light above the outside of the porch door.

The rains did come.  Tony also came and hooked up the light but couldn't get it working.  He would return next week to figure out the problem when it wasn't so wet outside.  Well, after some investigation, we discovered that the bathroom light socket, floor socket in the living room, and the crawl space dehumidifier were all non-functional.  UGH!

After blogging with tea, I got to work on cleaning the living room.  There was construction dust everywhere.  I washed some of the walls, all the floor boards, door and window trim, and the windows.  

I did a little touch up painting, vacuumed where all the furniture was going, and then cleaned the furniture well before having Joe help me move it in into place.

I worked part of the morning and all afternoon until 5:00, time to get ready to go.   I was off to the Library Building for the Moonlighters members only dinner and dance.  It was Western theme night, right up my alley.

The band was good and I had fun dancing to the fast songs and the line dances, but there was a lot of couples dances and I was the ONLY person without a partner.  (I was not allowed to bring Joe because he is not a member.)

So during the second break, I hit the road and headed to R-Place where my dancing lady friends were having a good time.  

Donna, Mary, Sherri, Connie, Michelle, and I.

I had a blast dancing with these girls, and there were very few slow dances, so we kept on rocking it.

 

Connie took these photos as the band was winding down.  In the left photo, I am looking at one of the guitarists who was coming off the stage.

And then he joined us in the next photo (seen right).

I was home and in bed just before midnight.  

Saturday 8/18 - I was a little later than usual waking up.  It had rained overnight, and I got the dog walked just before it started raining again. 

While working on this blog post I got word from Courtney that she had gone almost three full days without throwing up, but just puked for the 4th time in 24 hours.  SHOOT!

A little later I got word from Nancy that the pool was closed for the day, so I had the afternoon off.  I had a feeling it was going to be a lazy day.

I knew I needed to press forward to finish getting the house back in order, including all the cleaning that still needed doing.  Because of bad weather and sickness, Courtney had postponed the day's visit here until Monday, so that gave me more time.  I eventually got busy and thoroughly cleaned the balcony and had Joe help me move the heavy stuff back where it belonged.






Lots of things had been stored in Britney's bedroom.  It felt good to get it cleaned out and the balcony furniture all back in place.  I had made great strides.  I noticed Britney's laundry basket had gotten knocked over and was very heavy when I went to lift it up.  I have way more help than I need or want.

Mid afternoon I took a break out on the porch swing to read and rest.  It had cleared off considerably, and I was thinking I might need to go into work.  But I fell asleep, taking an afternoon nap again.  I got a call that woke me from a dead sleep, and thought for sure it was from my boss telling me to open the pool.  Instead it was the barn to report about Zorro.

I shook the cobwebs from my head, put on barn clothes and headed over.  Zorro and Rocky had both been bitten by bugs, we thought, and had lots of welts.  They are the only two geldings that stay out in the pasture all night.   Zorro also had a couple of sores that were draining.  The one on his neck was swollen.  

And on top of all that, Zorro also has scratches on his legs, like Amiga does.  I gave him a Bute to help with the swelling and treated his scratches and owies.  I also kept him in the stall overnight since Pat was leaving Rocky in.


I came home to shower and eat dinner.  Courtney reported that she is now down to 136 lbs.  I can't believe it, she has lost almost 50 lbs.


I fed pets, but didn't have to walk the dog because Joe had gotten knocked out of a poker tournament and arrived home earlier than expected.  Then I was off for an evening of dancing along with Michelle.  We started by dropping in at Reds at 8:30 and then went on to Megga Bites for Hippy Night.  It is a crazy place, fun, but was a little too wild for me as usual, however I did stayed till 1am.