30 Jan in Trenton, Illinois. Don & Ann got moving early in order to play a few games of Liverpool rummy in the afternoon. Ron ended up as the overall winner, 4 games to Don's 3 to Ann's 2. This has never happened before in the history of Liverpool rummy; we suspect that the end of the world is at hand. At 5:45, Hank picked up Don & Ron to attend Ian's basketball game in Salem, the final game of the season for the Wesclin team (since they lost; Ian is Hank's son). After the game Ron commenced packing in preparation for the long, cold ride to his Bride!
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| Aunt Eleanor on 26 September 2016 |
Ron is in Trenton, Illinois visiting Don and Ann S. and staying up way beyond his bedtime playing cards. Cynthia saw a sports medicine doctor for her right hand. It was diagnosed with severe arthritis at the base of the thumb and treated with a cortisone injection.
28 Jan, Sunday: Cynthia worshipped at Grace Lutheran Church in Montgomery, Texas; Ron relocated from Mt. Olive to Trenton, IL, stopping at his storage locker to drop off the pile of financial reports he carted up from Texas. Weather is forecast; more global freezing is bearing down on the Midwest closing the window of escape to return to his beloved bride in Texas. God willing, Ron will be riding southwest before that cold arrives Saturday.
27 Jan: Cynthia lost track of this day. Once she finds it, she will post about doing nothing. It is a challenge to do nothing because you never know when you are finished.
26 Jan: What a deal! Ron’s Hoka One One hiking shoes had a year warranty. After wearing them for 9 months the shoes were shot and returned to claim the warranty. Sure enough, the full purchase price was refunded. In the interim, Ron pulled a pair of old tennis shoes out of the storage unit to wear to Illinois where the soles on those shoes expired. Cynthia ordered new Hokas for Smooch to arrive in Illinois on Monday.
25 Jan: Ron is in Illinois, Cynthia has an early afternoon flight from Las Vegas to Houston. The distance between Houston and Illinois is still too great. The flight was delayed 5 hours, arriving in Houston at 10:30 PM, followed by a baggage delay and a 45 minute Uber ride. Uber is my preferred way to travel; I like how convenient they are, always close by, with a predetermined rate, conveniently taken care of by credit card. Although, It is not comfortable for women to travel by taxi or Uber alone at night:
24 Jan: Mt. Olive, Illinois is bristling with excitement that Ron is eating egg white veggie omelets at Denny’s boosting the economy. Ron and sister Carol are splitting wood and tracking DNA matches.
23 Jan: The distance between Las Vegas and Mt Olive Illinois is huge! After ten years of almost 24/7 we don’t do distance apart easily.
22 Jan: Ron is having fun in Illinois wrapping trees in chicken wire for protection from deer, creating firewood using a log splitter, and helping Carol create spreadsheets for DNA. In the meantime, Cynthia, in Palm Desert, CA said goodbye to son and daughter who returned to Houston, and sister Bonnie who lives in Palm Desert. Cynthia and sister Merrilee drove to Merrilee’s home in Las Vegas for a few days.
21 Jan: Ron and sister Carol drove to Denny’s for egg white vegetable omelets for breakfast before creating spreadsheets for Carols Mac to help her organize DNA records. Carol is such a whiz.
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| Da sisters in Palm Springs, warm & beautiful |
19 Jan: Ron arrived in Pocahontas, Arkansas after a 400 plus mile day.
18 Jan: Texas is yet suffering from bitter cold. Many accidents and a fatality were reported on 105 last night. The pipes at the beach house froze and burst despite having a neighbor shut the water off. Arctic weather, snow and ice in the South raise the death toll to 15, and 100,000 folks are without power. We had warnings to use minimal electricity today. Ron left Montgomery about 4:00 PM in 38 degree weather heading northeast to visit his sistah and friends in Trenton, Illinois; he stopped at a Comfort Inn near Livingston at dark-thirty after a mere 120 miles. He was quite disappointed to get a motel instead of sleeping out, but he has lost his acumen about picking a sleeping place as darkness falls. Cynthia is checked in for a flight to Palm Springs with two of her children. One daughter had to cancel mid afternoon when the Dr. said she was virally contagious. Another son could not leave his business. A horrid flu epidemic is making rounds; hopefully, no sick folks will be on our flight.
17 Jan: We ventured forth at 4:15 this afternoon only to discover many patches of ice around the car. Boxes were taken to the storage unit, UPS was closed, but Magnolia Diner was open and so was Walmart. We are once again stocked with food and the popcorn popper was returned because it makes rubbery popcorn. Ron's mail from Clarence arrived full of financial goodies (annual reports). Pritikin gifted Ron a set of ping pong paddles. Ron is scheduled to depart for Illinois at one PM when the temperature reaches 40, IF it really does! We are tired from so little exercise. Good night.
16 Jan: Greetings from the frozen tundra of the Texas Gulf Coast as we experience another blast of global freezing. Texas is closed today and tomorrow. When WhatABurger closes you graps the severity. Ron’s appointment with the electrophysiologist was cancelled. When the warming trend to a high of 45 begins Thursday, Ron will ride to Illinois to visit Sistah Carol. See the Houston traffic map, we are directly north of Houston off I-45, but not visible on this map. Houston is closed!
15 Jan: Today is National Kindness Day as we honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Definition of kindness
1 : the quality or state of being kind treating people with kindness and respect
2 : a kind deed : favor They did me a great kindness.
It matters not what anyone else says or does, what counts is what you and I say and do. Ron worked on recycling; we organized boxes at the storage unit and discovered Ron’s rain suit, zillions of loose rubber bands, plastic spoons from the good old days eating ice cream. Cynthia found the battery and charger for her heated winter jacket. A Walmart stop replenished our groceries in preparation for the big freeze due tomorrow. We walked 4 miles midday enjoying the abundance of deer grazing near the Trail, and tonight, we walked another 2 miles after dinner; the deer seemed interested in us.2 : a kind deed : favor They did me a great kindness.
14 Jan: The morning temperature was a very chilly actual 31 degrees; we were layered for the bounce down the outside stairs to the car, pleasantly surprised by the warmth of the brilliant sunshine. We drove off, then abruptly turned the car around because Ron forgot to take his meds; nevertheless, we made it to the church on time. The Pastor went into overtime causing us to be ten minutes late for brunch with Bill and Merry at the Yaxht Club. Yes. We had a great visit with good friends followed by a 4 mile walk to the lake. Several large herds of deer were grazing along the trail, not really minding that we were so close to them. Ron spotted a gray fox that darted right back into the woods. Did we mention Ron finally completed the 1318 page family group sheet Order and sent it off? The project gave Ron three months of steady employment for a $99.00 package. We are on a roll to get recycling done by Wednesday to drop off the recycling en route to the Houston Medical Center. Weather advisory warnings are posted for wintry mix by Tuesday afternoon. The weather change dims possibility of departing for Illinois on Thursday. We shall see!
13 Jan, It is 31 degrees real feel in Montgomery, Texas. Global Freezing is upon us. Cynthia’s blood pressure was normal. Joy. Ron is still planning to ride the motorcycle to Illinois on the 18th & 19th, God willing, if the weather forecast continues to be moderate. So let's let him check that out now. Bye.
12 Jan: It is cold and windy at Lake Conroe today. Cynthia's nerves were shattered this morning when her iPad independently, perversely, abruptly began playing loud modern music. We think the beast is silenced for good now. The phone, on the other hand, is less amenable to being silenced. These damn things seem to have the ability to reset themselves to loud without recourse. We had no appointments, so dallied around the apartment until lunch time, then ate lunch at the Inn on the Green at the Walden Golf Club; Oscar has been doing a marvelous job on Ron's entree-sized salads, and today we got to thank him in person. From there we drove to the storage locker, hunting for certain items, and found several of them. Ron now has the "guest" bedroom full of boxes of things from storage, and he has vowed to return less to storage than came out of it. (We will believe it when we see it. Tomorrow is his chosen day to thrash through everything, reorganize, and re-pack.) More errands, then home and out the door for the usual walk to the lakeside "beach" and back. Again we saw vast herds of deer more suitable to the African plain than to Conroe, where mushrooming housing is consistently reducing deer habitat. The microwave is again the popcorn popper of choice.
11 Jan: What happened to this day? It has vanished before we knew it. I think we drove to Bambi's where neither Cynthia nor Ron was scolded for "skin damage" and afterwards, as we discussed stopping at Jason's Deli, we espied a new one where we stopped for lunch. Then we got the shock of our lives at the audiologist's office: Cynthia can now hear, and her cell phone app controls the new hearing aids. Whatever will they think of next? Problem is that all this new noise upsets her "quiet world" that she usually enjoys. Stay tuned while we sort this one out.
10 Jan: Morning comes too soon! We are off to our dental appointments. We emerged with smiles intact. After lunch at Jason’s Deli, Cynthia will see her Dr while Ron works on the computer in the waiting room. Does anyone really need to know this? Yes, the IRS needs noted medical mileage. We walked about 6 miles this afternoon, including the walk to the Caddy Shack for dinner. We are tired little longevities. The hot air popper makes the popcorn less crisp than the microwave. Thank goodness Ron has finally completed the 1318-page package of family group sheets, etc. for the Swedish Colonial Society member who ordered it. Then he spent a few minutes editing "Nancy Drew Does DNA" before starting on the next Swedish package. Good news: two grandsons will be married, one for certain next November and the other might marry yet this summer.
9 Jan: Progress is being made on our SCS projects with the 2017 report completed, Cynthia made a stab at sorting receipts for taxes, various and sundry documents have been downloaded, like insurance ID cards, and mail sorted with a large pile for recycling. We hit 15,000 steps again today. We picked up our meds at Lakeside Pharmacy. Ron bought a $20 hot air popcorn popper and tried it out several times this evening.
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| Aaagh !! Caught on camera. It was chilly |
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| The deer herds are as huge as ever |
7 Jan, Sunday: Cynthia's struggle with high blood pressure enters the third day. This morning before eating it was high; after eating it was normal. She added salt to her oatmeal this morning - Dr. Cynthia, self medicating. We are looking forward to seeing our friends at church and at the Walden Yacht Club after church this morning. Our day is starting out dreary and overcast; the forecast calls for light rain to commence after dark. According to the forecast for Mt. Olive, Illinois, my sister might see above freezing temperatures this afternoon with rain turning to freezing rain after dark. Ugh, we'll take ours. Ron's plan for the day is same as usual - continue working to assemble the next package of Peter Craig materials for the patron of the Swedish Colonial Society; all that remains to do for this one is to re-read and re-order the 800 pages that will go into it.
6 Jan: Lake Conroe, Texas. We woke up (always good news) to rush through eating our breakfast oatmeal with fruit in order to pick up the rental car at 9:30 and then to the storage unit to unpack boxes that had been shipped back during the year. After lunch at Magnolia Diner, Cynthia visited Verizon to set up her new iPhone X. Our three devices now have a much lower monthly bill. Since the storage facility closes early on Saturday, Ron opted to ignore the several items that he forgot to retrieve. The weather was gorgeous for our usual 4-mile walk along the gravel path past the fitness center (with rest rooms) to the tiny park on the lake. Son Jon dropped his new Christmas gift Instant Pot off for us to use during our time here at Lake Conroe (to cook our beans). Cynthia discovered that her high blood pressure might have been caused by dehydration, or perhaps low sodium in our diet might be the culprit. (She calculated only 25 mg salt today and for the last many days; we just avoid salt assiduously.) By drinking a lot of water this evening, her blood pressure reading is again normal.
5 Jan: Houston, TX Medical Center. Since the normal procedure is to see the doctor first, then get blood drawn for a fasting blood test, we did not eat. Imagine Cynthia's reaction after she suffered through fasting until seeing the doctor ... only to be told that he didn't need a fasting blood test because so many were done so recently at the Pritikin !! Cynthia was shocked to find that her blood pressure was sky high - 162/ ? and when re-taken was 140/ 79. On the other hand, our weights were satisfactorily low. The doctor was well pleased with Ron's numbers and report and agreed that he no longer needs the Brilinta. Ron is ever hopeful that his shortness of breath symptom will go away after he runs out of Brilinta in a month. We were done with the appointments by 10:10 and boogied back to the Hotel to eat breakfast. After a quick and chilly ride on I-45 north, we were able to enjoy lunch with a beautiful baked sweet potato at the new Jason's Deli in Conroe before continuing to our 2nd floor vacation rental overlooking the Marina to the lake, much nicer than last year's ground floor looking through the bushes to the swimming pool. Before dark we rode over to Walmart and purchased enough groceries to last us a few days but forgot to get coffee and a few other critical necessities.
4 Jan: Goodbye Crystal Beach, TX... Hello Houston. Our ride to the Texas Medical Center took 2 hours even with a fuel stop and a recycling stop. Once checked into the hotel, Cynthia took a taxi to see Sasha, her hairdresser. Ron’s appointment with Dr. Arain, the cardiologist who opened his fully occluded artery, the LAD (left anterior descending artery - the widow maker), went excellently well. Dr. Arain thought Ron could stop taking Brilinta, one of the 3 prescribed anti-coagulants; but the Dr. was surprised that Ron had not acclimated to the med and he was still having shortness of breath. Tomorrow we see the second of the three cardiologists and get his opinion. On the 17th we see the electrophysiologist and get the third opinion about knee replacement in Chicago once the weather permits. After a terrific dinner of veggies and baked potatoes, we walked Rice University’s iconic 4 mile gravel jogging path which encircles the campus close to the Medical Center.
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| Lookie !! SNOW !! on the Texas Gulf Coast !! |
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| Miss Smoochie in winter wraps |
2 Jan: Global Freezing continues at Crystal Beach. Thankfully, because we left the water dripping, the pipes did not freeze. Today was colder but less windy; we walked the beach only once. Ron is close to completing one time-consuming family group sheet order; Cynthia created another Y-DNA Project: The Rinkers of Virginia, making this the 5th YDNA Project she administers. At 10:45 PM it is snowing lightly on Crystal Beach. Good night!
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| Little SmoochSmooch dressed for the weather; five layers above and three below |
We managed two beach walks for some 16,000 steps today even though Cynthia's phone told her that the "real feel" was 15 degrees. Global Freezing has arrived.
