31 Mar: Something strange happened when Ron typed a Ctrl-z, and he lost this entire month for a while. Now it looks like the only thing lost is the too cute bunny & duckie photo that Cynthia had posted here.
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| view from the Caddy Shack towards the golf course |
29 Mar: Recycle Ron took 3 months of recycling to the Woodlands center; they complimented him, "You are the only person who has the recycling so organized." Cynthia had two medical appointments in the Woodlands. We lunched at Jason's Deli and now we move to another condo until Monday when we take off for Sedona.
28 Mar: The end of March is looming ahead. Every pastor I know is planning the 1 April Easter message: April fool! He is Risen! Another day dawned and departed. In the meantime-and -in-between-time, we enjoyed a fun lunch with daughter Julie at Jason’s Deli before racing to the dentist in the Woodlands. Granddaughters Rachel, Lauren and Tyler met us for dinner at Pappadeaux. Monsoon rains hit us as we drove home. Tornado warnings are out until late tonight.
27 Mar: Hi Sweetie, I thought I'd surprise you with an early AM "I love you. Smooch." And she loved it once she noticed the updated blog. Ron’s favorite question is, “Did you notice?” Uh! uh! What? Then the guesses pour out like a Texas cloudburst. No. Cynthia didn’t guess Ron updated the blog. Cynthia is a happy girl with her surprise. All of this, and red roses, too; such a lovely update!
26 Mar: Do you like to get up early? We do not. We had a 7:45 AM appointment an hour away. Cynthia set an alarm, but it didn't ring. Ron arose on his own, sneaking out of the bed ever so quietly at 4 AM. At 6:10 he sneaked back into the bed to awaken Cynthia for the appointment at Memorial Herman Hospital in the Woodlands. Ron was prescribed an echocardiogram because of shortness of breath that has been an issue since taking RX Brillinta, a blood thinner used with the placement of arterial stents. Cynthia's observation of the echocardiogram (ultrasound), "Congratulations, Ron, its' a boy,” generated a hearty laugh from the pregnant technician. The rest of our morning went by smoothly; Ron made copies of our annual letter at Office Depot, then he unloaded reams of (exquisitely arranged) plastic for recycling at Target, and he purchased three boxes of pretty, colorful Thank You cards for sending the letters (You will like them). We ate a second breakfast at the Toasted Yolk: Imagine! Our order was no fat, no cheese, no oil, no sodium on egg white vegetable omelets with a bowl of fresh fruit, and grits. The waitress delivered the omelet with fruit, but hash browns with cheese and no grits??? ya gotta be kidding. Time to refocus. Ron's take is that it was another God-given beautiful day in which we were able to walk to the lake and back, practicing our pelvic tilt and reveling in another day without pain. At 4:30 AM he was up to clean an organize recycling. He found and sent a couple of genealogical tidbits to his sistah dear, and after that successful morning excursion for the echocardiogram, we returned with copies of the letter and Thank You cards to use for mailing. The evening dinner with Jon and Barb brought the thermal compound he has needed to complete the Toshiba refurbishing (installing a new fan), plus Jon retrieved his Instant Pot so we have one less item to clutter the kitchen counter. A marvelous day capped by a few minutes of blogging.
25 Mar: Thank you Pastor Diane Roth and John Darryl Roth for the wonderful worship experience at Grace Lutheran this Palm Sunday. The music was marvelous, especially the guitar, the drum, and the solos. The liturgy was a moving experience for all generations. The lovely liturgical dance was very meaningful, too. Thank you to all of the participants. We will miss you unti we see you next January. We were on time for Sunday brunch at the Yacht Club after church to celebrate Samantha and Steven’s birthdays with Sam’s boyfriend Adam. A great time was had by all of the survivors. Now we walk and exercise (after a wee nap)
24 Mar: Ron helped Cynthia edit an article she wrote for a premier genealogy journal about her DNA breakthrough. She was encouraged by the president of the ASG to submit it to the editor of the Genealogist. We hope it will be accepted. Ron is editing our annual letter that he wants to be mailed early this week. And now we pack. Cynthia has organized most of her stuff into three piles, one for the two week motorcycle trip to Sedona; one to be shipped to Sedona, and one to stay in the storage unit.
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| Deb is lotsa fun |
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| Deb & James, Cynthia & Ron at Round Top |
22 Mar: We momentarily forgot what we did. Ron wants to keep the blog family rated.
21 Mar was another glorious day with a 72 degree high. Venturing forth at 9:00 AM the temperature was a brisk 42 degrees. Cynthia had a girlie morning with a hair-a-cure by Sasha in the Galeria area. The traffic was heavy, and we arrived a bit late. Lunch at Jason’s Deli was terrific. Ron’s appointment with the electrophysiologist brought the official pronouncement that he is alive. It’s always good to get a professinal opinion. Everything is working perfectly. Shortness of breath seems to be disappearing. Ron is pumped about DNA!
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| Elizabeth & Catherine |
19 Mar: On this day we forgot to blog! We walked, we ate, we ran errands and did our computer stuffs. We have fun! Ron is excited about his DNA discoveries. Cynthia created GEDCOMS for him to upload to GEDmatch.com. Thanks to sister Carol for the Beatty GEDCOM.
18 Mar: Hello World from SE Texas! Ron wants Cynthia to create a GEDCOM (compressed data). She does have the unpublished Rambo lineage in her Software program, Sistah Carol has a six generation Beatty and Rambo. GEDCOM she could email to us. Our Mac software accepts all GEDCOMS. On another note, the humidity is 100%, but it isn’t raining. I don’t get it, the air felt sticky going to and fro worship and brunch. A very amusing 18 month old girl (identical twin) flirted with Ron outrageously during the children’s sermon. She noticed his smile! After worship, we had brunch with Jon and Barb, plus two of their clients who are closing on their house tomorrow. The guy is an IT specialist who enjoyed Ron’s stories of his early computer training at MIT. Remember last week when Ron helped Cousin Dorothy’s estate administrator retrieve computer files on her ancient computers? Her two little girls enjoyed Ron, too. The 2 year old followed him around the house. Ron was gifted coins he discovered in a drawer at Dorothy’s; now Ron is enjoying being a sometimes numismatist. Life is good in SE Texas!
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| view from Cafe on the Green, formerly "Caddy Shack" |
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| Dr. Peter Stebbins Craig honored |
15 Mar: It’s amazing how much better we feel now - when we didn’t know we weren’t feeling fabulous last year. We ARE aware of our good fortune and thank God. That was the topic of discussion on our walks today on a gorgeous day (6 miles). Lunch at the Cafe on the Green was delicious (photo aboe). Late afternoon the sun hid and a cool, brisk wind whipped as we walked to the lake.
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| Texas Longhorns watching us with curiosity |
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| Yes, we were actually this close |
13 Mar: Where is Ron? This is the day! So, where is Ron? It is approaching 4:00 PM and that big blue BMW is not yet loaded with Smooch. Annnnnndddddd there is that rush hour traffic on I-35 at Fort Worth, Texas that brings the traffic to stop and go. So. Sometime by midnight Smooch will arrive. It will be a chilly, dark ride in heavy traffic. But soon that blue BMW will be home! But wait, he has just arrived! and darkness fell only recently:
Stars shining bright above you
Night breezes seem to whisper "I love you"
Birds singing in the sycamore trees
Dream a little dream of me
And here it is a month later (April 3rd), and neither of us can get that song out of our heads.
12 Mar: It’s Monday morning! Aren’t you glad? Have a happy day! Ron is transferring files to floppies because of a very old, outdated OS that can’t transfer to the Mac. Meanwhile in south east Texas Easter Lilies were ordered and Cynthia is off for a fun day with Fyn and Zoe, the youngest of the 7 granddaughters. Thoughts from Cynthia’s FB morning post: Belonging to a team, having team spirit, is a good thing. Team spirit gives us strong family ties, denominational ties, political ties, unless it divides us so much we are given to hate and rancor.Night breezes seem to whisper "I love you"
Birds singing in the sycamore trees
Dream a little dream of me
And here it is a month later (April 3rd), and neither of us can get that song out of our heads.
11 Mar: Ron misses da wee-fee. With high hopes the Computer transfers will be completed by noon-thirty that big blue BMW will be traveling south like a speeding bullet. Ahhh! Not so fortunate: the discovery of files already converted to RTF by Mr. Smooch Geek in 2011 are a puzzle. Now, it is time to walk and clear the brain fog to enable memory of how that happened. Obviously the brain fog ensued from wedded bliss in 2011. Yup!
busy night at all the British henge sites as staff work all night to move the stones forward by an hour
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| Cynthia likes to post amusing things from the web |
10 Mar: Way up at the North Pole in Denton, Texas, Ron has a job. He is sorting over 10,000 unfiltered emails in Dorothy’s Inbox. He can delete only about a hundred at a time. This job may take a few years. Dorothy’s DeHaven book is on a different computer with an OS/2 operating system. OS/2 hard drives cannot be read by PCs or Macintosh computers. By 8:39 PM Ron is down to 9000 emails to sort and save after deleting various obvious junk. Down in Montgomery, Cynthia watched Ron’s sister Carol’s granddaughter Erika receiving a 4th place drill team competition award out of 30 or 40 participants. Erika is exceptionally bright besides talented.
9 Mar: Ron departed for Denton, Texas at 10:30 AM. The five hour ride was pleasant under partly cloudy skies with a high of 75 degrees forecast; arrival was about 2:30 PM. Ron phoned Cynthia from Wally World, but she was at the fitness center and returned the call, missing him. Ron called back missing Cynthia. Isn’t this fun? Finally, we connected. The world turns once again.
8 Mar: Ron has turned into the Tasmanian Devil, housecleaning ahead of tomorrow’s departure. The kitchen is clean and the lady of the house is smiling. We walked to the lake, and took a joy ride on the motorcycle, first to eat at the Cafe on the Green, then to UPS to mail a letter to the Elections Board, and finally to Wally World to fill our freezer and refrigerator. Ron finished mending the patches added to the patches on the patches of his brittle, almost dead khakis. Certainly there is another year's wear out of these patches?
7 Mar: Happy birthday Grandson Eric. We spent the afternoon at the dentists office with granddaughter Rachel; she texted how much she and Ryan adore Ron in a “manly” way. Ron has always striven to be adored in a manly way, too. Plans are shaping up for Ron to go to Denton, TX on Friday to help the estate administrator take care of the files on Cousin Dorothy’s computers. Her memorial service was a week ago. Our 101+ year old cousin will be dearly missed.
6 Mar: WOW! We walked to voting precinct #63 so Cynthia could vote... Afterwards, with a sticker, “I Voted!” proudly pasted on her forehead, we walked to the Cafe on the Green for lunch. We continued on the walk to the Lake and home again, home again jiggity jig. Ron is discovering how to do chromosome matches on Gedmatch.com. The first try was amusing by mistakenly using a cousin’s kit # instead of his own.
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| granddaughters are wonderful |
4 Mar, Sunday: We worshiped at Grace Lutheran, then brunched at the Yacht Club with Jen, Brett and Roxanne before the parents-to-be took off for their 16 hour drive home to Denver, their car packed over-full with baby items from the shower. The child may never need another outfit until adulthood. Ron and Cynthia walked for a total of five miles today. Ron has been reassured that Cousin Dorothy’s DeHaven manuscript is in good hands for posthumous publication.
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| Mr. McGregor’s Garden |
2 Mar: Our condo is not furnished with an ironing board or iron; friend Barb allowed us to come to her house so Ron could iron patches on his patches on his patches on his pants to last several more years. Cynthia is prepared with back up cargo khaki pants for every day, back up cargo dress pants Ron can wear to church or for days his patches fall off. Cynthia had a 1 PM doctor appointment at the Conroe Medical Center so we ate lunch at the Club en route, followed by a stop at the storage unit to pick up a cable for the TV to the computer; from there we mailed two unneeded Apple adaptors back at the UPS store. At 2:30 we hoofed it to the Fitness Center for a workout. Ron is tired today, rested in the afternoon, and still went to bed early. Do our readers need to know all of these details? NO! But, welcome to our world. This blog is how Cynthia keeps track of medical information for the IRS and doctors.
1 Mar: Ron had the perfect title for the March blog but forgot it. We drove to the ophthalmologist in Brenham to get an update on Cynthia's macular degeneration, arriving five minutes late. Use eye drops, take vitamins religiously, and return in September. On the way home we stopped at Kroger's for frozen berries and raw veggies. The computers kept us busy until four PM when we walked to the fitness center and onto the Cafe on the Green for dinner. With trowel in hand Ron dug trenches along the trail to drain standing water. Trail maintenance never stops.
