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| View from our condo balcony |
Yes, this is that same photo, but we don't have a snow-covered scene to put here yet.
Yes the same reminders, but Ron is the patient sort.
We are in a rental condo at The Point on the Walden peninsula, Lake Conroe, Montgomery Texas.
28 Feb: The end is here (of February). Now we (hi Ron) need to think of a March blog title by morning. Our morning walk was late but done by one-thirty. Ron's big jobs for the day (that he actually did) are to cook the package of lentils and sew a bit on his shirt. Cynthia cooked her delicious salmon recipe for dinner, and we are back at work. Ron finished documenting the family of Lawrence "Larry" Lea and then called Paul about QQQ options. Cynthia organized clothing to be shipped to Sedona, to be shipped to California, to go back into the storage unit, or into the travel bag, finding all this most awkward with her right hand in a brace. 4 miles. Ron walked to the lake and back after dark
27 Feb: We arose in time to walk almost to the lake before we needed to turn around in order to get to Cynthia's appointment for her splint that keeps her fingers "immobile" while the sagittal bands heal (we hope). The ride there on the motorcycle went smoothly, and we arrived half an hour early. Gina is a fun girl and quite talented at making splints. On the way home we stopped for salads at Jason's Deli and at Walmart for frozen mango. Our evening walk, plus walking through the day brought us a total of 7 miles.
26 Feb: We slept beautifully at Julie's, arose, exercised as usual, made oatmeal in a foreign environment (Julie's clean kitchen), and are excited to see what the day brings (besides more sherbert). We enjoyed a lazy morning of casual conversation and more sherbert until noon, when we left and stopped at Jason's Deli for huge salads. In the evening we walked to the point and to Walden road and turned in early for a good night of sleep.
25 Feb: We are ready for something different! After we exercise. oatmeal, and walk, Ron will load the car with recycling, and pack overnight bags for a slumber party at our daughter Julie's. We had a wonderful time visiting with Julie until Lamar arrived to cook salmon and sweet potatoes for dinner, delicious. Afterwards, we gathered around Julie's custom-made lazy susan with our Christmas present, a 200-piece jigsaw puzzle of our favorite picture of our wedding. It was a delightful evening, but I was shocked to hear that the time had fled and it was after 11 pm. At that late hour Julie reminded Ron that she had purchased sherbert especially for him, so he ate half of the container labeled lime.
24 Feb: Is already gone, and Ron failed to update the blog yesterday too. However, everything stays the same: up, exercise, eat, walk, work on James Lea, eat more, walk more, sleep. Repeat. Great-granddaughter Abigayle sent a precious letter. Ron never dreamed he would have grandchildren much less have great-grandchildren! 6.52 miles. FUN FUN FUN
23 Feb: See 24 Feb. 7.62 miles
22 Feb: Retirement is wonderful. We can awaken after sunrise, exercise, eat oatmeal and stresslessly mess with our computers until motivated to get out the door for a walk. By all means, give it a try as soon as you are able.
21 Feb: was a hot Tuesday in Texas. Ron is enjoying making plans for DTYD at MIT in mid-April 2024. Cynthia is delighted to attend. After lunch today, Ron walked to the lake while Cynthia stayed out of the sun in the fitness center. We walked again after dinner, her miles totaling 3.75 miles. James Lea is progressing slowly as Ron finds more and more on Find-A-Grave.
20 Feb: Cynthia's sagittal bands on her right hand are now immobilized in a brace for a few months. Normal right-hand tasks are challenging. Cynthia's sagittal bands have stretched and weakened during her 18+ years on the planet. It might take 3-6 months of wearing the brace to heal. Is this better than surgery? We will see. Ron will have many extra tasks to do, like cooking, washing Cynthia's hair, and typing.
19 Feb: Jon, Tina, Rachel, Ryan, and Blaire met us for brunch after worship, but the Yacht Club had a really horrible singing guitar player making an intolerably loud noise. Ron asked to have the volume reduced, watched as the performer tweaked his amplifier minutely, told the management that he was leaving, and walked out. Cynthia phoned him when the "music" finally stopped. We won't go back to this convenient fine dining location that we have patronized frequently for ten years.
18 Feb: Good golly it will be cold, 36 degrees overnight! We didn't get a lot done today, in part because Ron was up until 2 AM last night. Ron did a bit more editing, having found amazing things thanks to Ancestry and Find-A-Grave. He walked to the lake and back while Cynthia hit the machines at the fitness center again. Ron is all excited to think of motivating a DTYD reunion at MIT in 2024. Cynthia's walking totaled 3 miles
17 Feb: The housecleaning frenzy is afoot. One bathroom and one bedroom are very clean, the carpets are vacuumed, the laundry is done, and her clothes are organized for shipping or storage unit. Ron even cleaned the kitchen a bit. Ron took a break from editing to walk four miles, plus we walked together in the evening. Cynthia totaled 3.75 miles
16 Feb: QQQ finally did what Ron needed to see to purchase a call option. Now let's see if he loses this money too. Ron walked all alone in the afternoon while Cynthia ran errands and then spent time at the fitness center. We walked together in the dark. Cynthia’s total mileage was five.
15 Feb: Cynthia arose at the crack of light to launch herself and Lexus in the direction of her annual dermatologist appointment two hours away in the center of Houston’s insane traffic. Ron was without adult supervision sand didn't even get into trouble, thanks to James Lea. Cynthia successfully traveled the crowded freeways of Houston even though she had to take her least favorite route. It is not surprising that it takes an entire day to travel downtown. The dermatologist/ esthetician applied a chemical scrub that leaves Cynthia looking like a spousal abuse victim. She is forbidden to go into the sunlight or sweat for a week. Ron walked solo this evening. How did these two days sneak past us? One was misnumbering our calendar.
14 Feb: Happy Valentines Day to my beloved, brilliant, handsome, witty, fun-filled Smooch. You are a gift from God. I love you♥️ And Smooch got points for the first "I love you" of the day, although he didn't have a cute little heart emoji. 15 Valentine's Days together! The new AeroFlow windscreen arrived, so Ron will have reading to do before installing it with all the various little glue thingees. 7 Miles hoop de doo!
Two diary entries: hers: “Dear Diary: told him I love him several times, I prepared a fabulous meal, and he just lay awake for hours. Maybe there's someone else he is thinking about.” and His diary: “Dang, I can't figure out why the motorcycle won't start.”
13 Feb: Tomorrow, another God-given day to enjoy. We arose at 4:14, as in the AM! (Ouch sayeth the retirees.) Cynthia took the car to be serviced at 8:30 AM. The mechanic is an inexpensive, experienced Lexus mechanic. Jon drove Cynthia from and to the mchanic's shop morning and afternoon. It was an amazing experience for her, driving home and seeing through a sparkling clean windshield! On our sunset walk we found Coach in his truck at the marina watching the birds. Mileage on our walks totaled 7.62 miles.
12 Feb, Sunday: And we awaken to another bright, beautiful day in Houston. Ron is rehearsing his proselytic passion, phraseology to motivate retirees to replace the morning commute with a daily exercise routine in order to keep the body functioning as well as possible as long as possible. Otherwise decay soon eliminates the ability to pursue other interests. Ask those active elders you know how much time they spend sitting. You will learn that they don't spend much time sitting. Enough for today. We enjoyed church. (Cynthia really likes the hearing earbuds tuned to the sound system. She actually heard the sermon for the second Sunday in a row.!!) Then we ate a light lunch at home and walked to the fitness center, to the lake and back, passing a noisy gaggle of aggressive geese twice. We are now preparing for bed after our second outing of the day. 7.64 miles
11 Feb: The forecast is for cold weather. This translates to sleep. And we were indeed still in bed, Cynthia asleep, when Ron's pill alarm started ringing at 9 AM. We upped, exercised, ate, and walked. It wasn't bad until we turned around into the wind. Even then it was a nice day for a walk. Salmon is baking for dinner which will be followed by the second walk of the day. Seven Miles
10 Feb: After the usual and an earlier walk than usual, we drove to the bank first to wire money to England for DNA analysis, then to the Hodge Podge Lodge for a late lunch with Larry & Dawn at 1:30. Ron had been watching QQQ for an opportunity to buy a call, but didn't see it. We walked a second time into a cold windy evening with a great sunset. Seven miles
9 Feb: Cynthia bounced out of the condo early to get a dress fitted for granddaughter Zoe’s June wedding and to do her girlicure thing. Ron was spared the girlicure thing because he was too slow to get going by 9 AM. We walked four miles, followed by work on James Lea.
8 Feb: Cynthia had an appointment with the ENT doctor and audiologist in the morning, followed by a car inspection, getting the safety tag, and lunch at Magnolia Diner. We were so busy, we might have walked and forgotten. One of Ron's pills was stuck in his throat for an hour. The ENT said that there are two sphincters that keep stomach acid in the stomach and some pills are rough enough and light enough that the sphincter doesn't fully relax to let the pill through, then spasms and won't release after the pill is stuck halfway through. It was very unpleasant.
7 Feb: Another glorious day for an early walk. (We were more than halfway there by noon under threat of rain and a few light sprinkles.) The sun breaks through the clouds, and we haven’t had the forecast of severe thunderstorms ... Yet. Maybe we will get a second walk today? We did! And we have a total of 7.2 miles! Ron has resumed working on James Lea after a few days of cleaning and straightening his messes. (My beloved certainly puts up with a lot.)
6 Feb: Ron was delighted to sleep 7 hours uninterrupted last night. We walked to the lake early and expect to walk again before dark because the next two days are forecast to be stormy. Ron is continuing to get paper off the floor and prepared for recycling. Things are looking better. 7.6 miles, 18,066 steps. Cynthia's daily goal is to close all of the Fitness rings on the iPhone.
