 |
| Cynthia's sunset photo January 1 |
31 Jan: We need a title tomorrow. Hmmm, how about 2022 and climbing. We upped, exercised, ate, and drove to another needling. We really like Dr. Wendy, and her treatments help, but after another huge salad for lunch, we saw Dr, Margolis, and his X-rays showed a significant bone spur precisely where Cynthia's foot is so tender and painful. Dr. Margolis is such a dear man that he gave us three feet of padding 1/4 inch thick. That is it for now. Cynthia is a bit dubious, but Ron is ever hopeful. It rained ALL day, so we did not get to walk - which is probably a good thing for Cynthia's hurty foot. Now it is 10:30 and Ron needs to follow Cynthia to slumberland ASAP.
30 Jan, Sunday: And another month is almost gone. Time flying. At least we are having fun. Typical Sunday: early up, early eat, get to church on time, huge lunch at the Yacht Club, so full that we are comatose in the afternoon, late walk, and lots of genealogy. Now it is time for Ron's evening constitutional.
29 Jan: We can sleep in ?? ZZZZZzzzzzz and we are awake! Ron is focused on James Lea, while Cynthia is preparing an income tax report. It was disappointing to learn that the article (about using DNA to reveal ancestor Harry King) was declined for publication in the NGS Quarterly six months ago, and we didn’t get the message. Oh, well. The article will make a good book.
28 Jan: We drove at noon to see "Dr." Wendy for acupuncture. Today Cynthia told Dr. Wendy to concentrate on the hurty foot, and the acupuncture provided significant pain relief. The big treat on these Dr. Wendy days is that we stop at Jason's Deli afterwards for a lunch of huge salads. We stopped to renew the rental car contract for another month, and Cynthia picked up her new glasses at Vision Source, but they are blurry. Fooey !! 5 PM we joined Bill & Joan, Larry & Dawn for a delicious dinner at the Eatery (click here) (at the Hodge Podge Lodge in Montgomery), with conversation and fellowship that was even better. Ron embarked on his evening walk and talk with friend Ed earlier this evening after the 2:30 bedtime last night.
27 Jan: Another day just like any other day or better (we hope). Fitness training with Erin, plus a long walk despite Cynthia's hurty foot. At 4:00 we drove over to see Dr. Stark for new hearing aid called EARLENS. The fitting was not painful, but it is a bit unpleasant to have your entire ear canal filled with goo to get an impression of the ear drum. Pulling out the plug required making lots of faces with mouth open wide. Too bad Ron didn't videotape the expressions. Cynthia's Earlens will arrive in two weeks, and we will discover what it takes to install them. Ron has progressed to violently difficult sudokus in his book and will go for his long evening walk as soon as the pill alarm sounds. Well that was the plan, but he is getting to bed at 12:18. Goodnight.
26 Jan: Dr Wendy was as pleasant as always, but treatment failed miserably. She needled Cynthia's back, but as soon as we walked out the door her foot was excruciating. We drove to Jason’s Deli for lunch (and Ron stuffed himself with salad and potato). Cynthia's foot remained too painful to walk at all, but at least we slept well.
25 Jan: Today's torturess was Erin, but she took it easy on us because of Cynthia's various pains. Then we walked gently to the lake, and Ron clipped overhanging trees along our route (trail maintenance dontcha know). Cynthia is so pleased with her weight and her foot is not hurting. (3 lbs. down 2 lbs to go!) Ron is perpetually pleased. We walked 7 miles today! Ron walked another 4 miles after dark as usual.
“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
“Oh! that’s my favorite day,” squealed Pooh!
24 Jan: We enjoyed our sleep again although Ron didn't arrive to bed until midnight (so he immediately got points for first "I love you" of the day). After exercising and oatmealing, we drove off is keep our appointment with "Dr." Wendy to turn Cynthia into a pin cushion. We shopped at Wally World on the way home bought replacement flowers for the old, tired bouquets. Today the relief from foot pain has lasted all day, perhaps because it was a drizzly day, suitable for staying indoors instead of walking excessively.
 |
| We were inside looking out |
23 Jan, Sunday: Off to worship at 9:30, then stuffed ourselves on egg-white veggie omelets, fruit and veggies at the Yacht Club. It is a lovely, pleasant day, and the dining view is a delightful blue! This afternoon we walked to the point of the breakwater for the marina because that is on grass and dirt, so hurts Cynthia's foot far less than pavement and concrete. Our walk totaled 2.5 miles
22 Jan: Well, we missed a day of blogging, not that anything exciting happened! We walked to the Cafe on the Green for a salmon and salad, totaling six miles. Then we hunkered down to our Macs and James Lea. Cynthia watched a movie, "Is Heaven Real?" This is her third movie in fifteen years!
21 Jan: This was another one of those slow-moving mornings. We were en route to see Dr. Wendy by 12:22, arriving six minutes early. She worked on the lower back, with a needle in the knee, causing Cynthia to levitate off the table and up to the ceiling. The arthritis foot pain relieved once again. Cynthia asked (Chinese) Dr Wendy if she was trained in a Chinese torture camp; she thought this hilarious. Ron walked five miles tonight, plus our 2.5 this afternoon, all the while trying to figure out The George Leas of Caswell County Cynthia read the book, The Letter, by Ed Munson, an author and friend of her sister, Merrilee, who is one of the characters in the story.
Ron 20 Jan: Freezing temperatures are arriving in Texas; a warning came to winterize the condo by leaving the lower cabinet doors open. Fortunately, we are on the second floor with heat below us and above us. In Iowa, winterizing started in September by wrapping pipes, having extra bottles of water, and a generator for the basement. After exercise and oatmealing, we ventured forth in 37-degree temperature (real feel 27) to fitness training; Cynthia was happy she wore her heated jacket. We continued our walk to the lake after class; it was really cold and windy. Later, we ran errands to the pharmacy and found Masa Harina at Kroger's. Ron walked to the lake tonight and got home comfortable and almost dry (although Cynthia says he is cold). A hard freeze is expected by morning. The color radar indicated icy rain nearby. Ron walked ten miles today, Cynthia 5.
19 Jan: We sauntered through the morning and sprinted out the door at noon-twenty, having reached our peak momentum for the day; an hour and twenty-five minutes later, we arrived at the ophthalmologist in Brenham, TX, with eight minutes to spare. Cynthia wants more information on how macular degeneration causes decreased vision, particularly, why prescription eyeglasses cannot help. She is puzzled that the retina specialist says her vision is stable, yet her vision has worsened. Are there experimental meds available? Meanwhile, driving in Texas, with a temperature of 77 degrees, we avoided the icy roads, blinding snow, and blizzards afflicting in other parts of the country. We did see thunderstorms in the afternoon. In tropical Texas, it is the rainy, slow season.
18 Jan: Another wonderful day to arise and shine, but then we walked to visit our favorite torturess, Erin, Cynthia's personal trainer. Now we are returned, and Ron is actually working on James Lea again. Those healthy cookies that Cynthia made on the 14th are gone already. Imagine that!! I wonder who ate all of the healthy cookies! Hmmm! Cynthia certainly looks very healthy! Hmmm! We walked 5 miles this AM, fitness training for an hour, and tonight walked 2.5 miles to make 7.5 total. The foot is apparently improved!
17 Jan: We exercised, oatmealed, dressed, and drove to see Dr. Wendy for another needling. The needles were again placed in painful spots, but there was little relief today. Then to Jason’s Deli for lunch and afterwards to the ortho Dr. Margolis, a foot specialist who declared Cynthia's foot pain to be emanating from her back, especially since she was experiencing stabbing pains in her foot without any obvious provocation other than sitting up. Is this good news? Ron took a shower and washed his clothes this evening, and it is now time for bed.
 |
| Grandpa Jon with Blaire at story time |
16 Jan, Sunday: We departed for Worship at 9:30 AM followed by brunch with Jon, Tina, Jayne and Gary. And we thank God countless times for our amazing love, every day. Cynthia wrote: "Ron has a delightful sense of humor; he is witty, supportive and loving in every way!" Ron responds, “Aww shucks.” We walked 5 miles. Cynthia's foot was ok until the last block. Great news of the day, Ron’s Mac is fully updated, everything is working, and James Lea manuscript is next!
15 Jan: Cynthia had a girl day with her daughters: pedicure, manicure & girlie-acure, while Ron was left unsupervised. Oh no! Hooha! A block from the condo, a big buck ran in front of Cynthia's car, she slowed to look, and three more bucks dashed in front of the car, way too close for comfort!! Ron has good intentions to walk to the lake soon (and did). Cynthia's sleep last night was disturbed by pain in both foot and back; we've progressed from bad to worse. Foot pain has alleviated by dinner time. After Ron's second solo walk to the lake, the 17” MacBook (with dead dGPU) is entirely operative once again, Word and all!
14 Jan: On the way to acupuncture, we stopped to get Ron's new reading glasses. We can both see much, much better with these prescription glasses (but they don't help to solve sudokus). We made the mistake of telling Dr. Wendy that Wednesday's acupuncture wasn't effective and that Cynthia's foot prevented restful sleep last night. Dr. Wendy found at least three places to place needles that caused Cynthia to gasp and clench her fists. Ron thought she might just levitate right up off the table. Afterwards, her feet were better all the way to Jason’s Deli and another salad bar overload. At home again, Cynthia made Annie’s healthy banana-oatmeal cookies.
 |
| New baby Charlie |
 |
| Handsome Ron on new fangled playground toy |
13 Jan: Exercise with Erin is great. We survived yet again, and we walked five miles, and are now at home, hardly working. Ron is procrastinating dealing with his Microsoft Office problem for fear of losing access to the account for which we cannot remember a password. Fortunately he discovered the password by accident when attempting to delete Microsoft Office from the machine.
12 Jan: Morning exercises, oatmeal, and sudokus were followed by a trip for acupuncture, and a trip to Jasons Deli for a salad & potato lunch. Unfortunately, Cynthia's foot pain isn't as relieved as on Monday. By mid-afternoon we were at the audiologist for an appointment to learn about a high tech hearing aid called EARLENS, a lens that fits the ear drum like a contact lens. Cynthia’s hearing loss in the right ear is too profound for the device, but it will work on the left ear. We are just learning about EARLENS.com, only available via an ENT.
11 Jan: Erin delights in sadistically supervising our fitness training. We love her enthusiastic, non-sadistic, Irish-Italian smile. We finished our walk to the lake and drove to Cynthia's doctor appointment at 2:30 to discuss her thyroid medication dosage. All is well; lab results two days later indicate that her dosage is perfect. We ate an early supper (omelets) at Magnolia Diner. Ron’s Mac with crippled dGPU is finally upgraded successfully except that Microsoft Office no longer works.
10 Jan: Happy Birthday, Paul! We stretched, oatmealed, dressed, and drove to see doctor Wendy for acupuncture #2. It was amazing that she was able to place a single needle into Cynthia's foot that immediately relieved the pain and allowed easy mobility. We ate too much at Jason’s Deli, stopped at the storage unit and were home again jiggity-jig!
9 Jan, Sunday: And we were up, exercised, fed and to church on time (by 10 AM). After another day of avoidance, Ron finally tried to use Excel and Word on his still recalcitrant Mac and discovered that they don't work after the "upgrade" to High Sierra 10.13.6. Apparently the upgrade will make re-installing the fixes more difficult now. His research continues. Julie and her Lamar joined us for brunch at the yacht Club where we had the most delightful time telling stories of when we did dumb things.
 |
| Lauren's baby Charlotte |
8 Jan: Cynthia said, “There ought to be a better way to start the day than having to get up.” Ron’s Mac refused to get up. It died, but Ron raised him up again for the third time in three days. Why deal with such an irascible Mac? Instead, Ron cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed! Sudokus were finished! We walked, we marketed, and now we rest. Miss Charlotte is finally home.
7 Jan: We followed our SOD routine: SOD! Stretch, Oatmeal and Dress. On this day, we rushed to dress because we had an appointment with Dr. Wendy at eleven for acupuncture. We rushed back home to eat, and then walked 4.5 miles. Life is crazy busy. Cynthia received an update to Ron’s Mac issues. We ran out of time for a manicure, so that’s on tomorrows agenda. Lauren and new baby will be discharged tomorrow night.
6 Jan: Stretched and oatmealed, we trekked to the fitness center for an hour’s workout, followed by a walk to the lake and then home. Ron took a shovel to the empty lot we cross to the trail and repaired a monster hole that is dangerous to cross in the dark at night. Cynthia turned in an order for prescription glasses, using a pair of her own sunglasses she likes. Ron was hugely surprised when his Mac finally booted up.
5 Jan: We have a 9:30 AM appointment with Sasha for haircuts and then with Dr. Dougherty, Ron's electrophysiologist, at 1:00. We stopped at Jasons Deli, for lunch of baked potato and salad bar. All is weller than well, gooder than good
4 Jan: Good news from a Columbia University study saying the Omicron pandemic will peak on January 9th; we will be back to normal in two months. Our next two months are crazy busy, so that’s good news. Fitness training at ten AM, followed by a walk to the lake, then to the ENT to check ears, then the Vision Source to look at glasses. Ron ordered new glasses; Cynthia is waiting until Thursday-when she brings her own glasses to have the new RX lenses. And great news: Lauren and Tyler’s baby girl, Charlotte Reese, arrived this morning, 5 lbs and 10 ozs. She looks like Jon did as a baby.
3 Jan: Cynthia would wear that heated gear if we were on the motorcycle with a battery to plug it into, but it’s a little too cold to do that. She brought a jacket that heats with a charged battery in the pocket. We will leave the hotel at 7:55 AM to our annual checkups, it is 34 degrees with a real feel of 25 Wish us luck Brrrrrrr. Awesome even, we aced our annual checkups, and we didn’t freeze. Cynthia dug into a bowl of hot oatmeal as soon as we returned to the hotel. The return drive, navigating Houston’s busiest freeways, was successful. After a late lunch at Jasons Deli, errands completed, we are ready for a walk. The orange and coral sunset spilled onto an iridescent blue lake for a breathtaking view. 6.3 miles total today! Ron finally bit the bullet today and installed the updates to his operating system with hopes that Safari would also be updated and be able to again access his Google Drive. His distrust of updates was vindicated when the system refused to boot despite many, many, many iterations of the boot sequence.
2 Jan, Sunday: Already? Time is racing by. After worship and brunch, Cynthia drove us to the medical center to overnight for early Monday AM annual checkups, despite saying she wasn’t going to drive on the freeways again. But, the temperature is 31 degrees with a real feel of 24. That is too cold for the motorcycle. While driving, Cynthia is experiencing hesitation and lack of confidence; we survived and stayed warm. Our appointments are at 8:15, a twenty-five minute walk at 30 degrees. Ron walked for two hours tonight, talking to Ed K. in 32 degree, real-feel 24, temperature and announced, “It’s not cold at all.”
1 Jan: 2022 is off to a roaring start! WE WOKE UP! Happy New Year arrived to a blog post near you. Cynthia is in her cleaning mode. This morning we walked to the lake but our normal restroom stop was not available because the fitness center is closed. We were able to use restrooms near the tennis courts instead, for the very first time. It was beastly hot and humid at 83 degrees. And tomorrow the high is forecast to be 42 degrees. The cleaning was mostly completed when we did our second walk to the point at the marina, chalking up 8.5 miles total.
