October, scary because we need to reform our ice cream binging.

Ron and his bride in Vermont, 2024

18 Oct:  Celebratory dinner for Erika with Eric and family.

17 Oct:  We need to get up early to get to physical therapy by 9:30.

16 Oct:  We spent the day indoors with Cynthia on her back on the floor with calfs up on a chair cushion.  In that position, her back "releases" and allows the spine to realign somewhat.  No physical therapy today; the clinic is closed.  We ate our usual baked potatoes and steamed veggies at Los Amigos.  Ron walked around the hotel about ten times with a couple down here looking for a new residence in a less congested area than Chicago or Springfield.  At Cynthia's reminder, we did Ron's pacemaker test last thing before bed; we won't know he passed for a week or two.

15 Oct:  Cynthia walked almost OK after a refreshing night's sleep, then iced and heated her leg, but was appalled that her pain became so great again after that "therapy."  We saw Laura again at 10:15 for five trigger point injections to relax the bigger muscles surrounding Cynthia's pain.  Dr. Schatz was going to stretch Cynthia's hip, but the pain was too severe, so he relented and cautioned us not to do too much.  Let the muscles relax for a day or two.  The mattress might be too soft, allowing her hips to sag while lying on her side.  Carol and Bill delighted us with a visit and dinner at Los Amigos.  Cynthia hobbled over!  Ron is walking the Halloween trail tonight, dark as a black cat at midnight on a moonless night. 

14 Oct:  We hustled down to the clinic ASAP for an injection and physical therapy.  First was the injection into the SI joint along with a caution not to expect immediate results - maybe three days.  Then physical therapy wherein Stacy strapped Cynthia into a decompression chair that held her torso and legs while allowing her bottom to drop unsupported.  Cynthia would have remained there all day if she could have; the pain relief was Soooo very nice. Ooohhh yes.  Ron continues working on Volume II while listening to the Senate Judiciary Oversight Committee; what a bunch of prima donnas who consider themselves sacrosanct.  Our internet hasn't been great, so we moved next door, closer to the router.  After an evening meal at Los Amigos, we walked around the motel a couple of times.  Cynthia is moving easier and is optimistic.

13 Oct:  Cynthia's appointment with the physical therapist only 1/2 mile away.  We could walk if Cynthia could walk.  Cynthia’s edits disappeared, and later Ron's edits disappeared.  Dr. Schatz is wonderful.  He speaks quite forcefully and has comprehensive knowledge about Cynthia's problems, having read her reports and MRI.  Apparently the problem is that her body is smarter than her brain.  (The normal human situation.)  Her brain says to ignore the pain, so the body has to scream louder.  Yes, her problem originates in the L4/ L5 vertibrae, exacerbated by the torn hamstring tendon and gluteus maximus tendons, which press on the piriformis which strangles the sciatic nerve.  The SI joint is also involved since her L5 is flattened on one side and cannot decide whether to become a rigid part of her tailbone or to continue acting as a vertibrae which flexes and bends.  All these irritated body parts have convinced the IT band to tighten more also.  He says this is an easy fix, once we can convince all the affected body parts to stop screaming.  That was so incredibly reassuring, and he further said that all the exercise and stretching we have been doing is beneficial.  Tomorrow Cynthia will get an injection.  Ron started to walk across the dam but reconsidered half way and decided not to overdo it. 

12 Oct:  Sleep is good stuff.  Ron walked across the dam after dark.

11 Oct:  We slept and slept some more but didn't get much rest in the smaller bed.  At noon we exercised, ate breakfast, and arose.  (Cynthia says that it is tough work sleeping in a queen-size bed with a giant.)  Cynthia’s head cold is a bit better, and she is walking a bit better.  It is so peaceful at Lake Carlyle.  The Lea Book sizes are now corrected to 8.5x11, and that size should be ready for publication in a couple of weeks.  We ate a late lunch at Los Amigos, and Ron enjoyed a tamale for the first time in forever.  Ron dabbled in James Lea again for an hour or two before walking to Walmart again for old fashioned oatmeal to keep his bride happy.

10 Oct:  We stopped at Ruby Tuesday for one more lovely salad before riding out of Litchfield towards Hillsboro, through Donaldson and Greenville to the Mariner's Village Inn at Lake Carlyle.  Raj & Pam welcomed us back.  Then we napped.  Ron walked to Wally World for groceries and came back with everything needed.

9 Oct:  Cynthia stayed in bed with Rinoallergies.  Maybe this is a head cold?  She coughed most of the night.  This is indeed awful and compounded by the hip pain too.  Ron brought hot oatmeal, a scone, fresh fruit, and a cup of coffee from the hotel breakfast bar.  Carol came to town to pick Ron up at 9 AM and showed him all the pictures that Bob Craig had left with her a month ago.  Such fun looking at old Beatty family photos.  Carol even fed Ron and Bill lotsa lunch; salads and veggies.  Cynthia prepared more oatmeal at 12:45 PM.  Now, she and her sore hip and major headache are going to try to sleep!  Carol returned Ron to Litchfield at 3 PM so that Ron & Cynthia could enjoy another Ruby Tuesday meal.

8 Oct;  We had lunch with Carol and Bill at Ruby Tuesday.  Carol brought the printed Volume One, and we were astonished that it is only 6x9 instead of the intended 8.5x11.  AuthorHouse will revise/resize it to 8.5x11.  Later in the afternoon, Ron rode out to the farm to see his sister and Bill, and Cynthia took a nap at the hotel.  Her cold/ allergies have worsened.  Sistah Carol fed Ron a wholesome dinner of salmon, broccoli and sweet potato.  Great news, Cynthia can stop worrying because the deposit arrived at the bank.

7 Oct:  Up early to the sounds of rain.  After breakfast, we rode to Litchfield.  Ron was delighted with the scenery on the smaller, familiar roads that we took.  We arrived in mid-afternoon and enjoyed an early dinner with Carol and Bill at Ruby Tuesday.  Cynthia’s cold/allergies are somewhat improved with RX nasal spray.  Hip pain is not improved after sitting on a hard chair yesterday at lunch in Bonaparte.  Route, same as last year: US 218 into Keokuk, US 136 (crossing Mississippi River) 3 miles to a R on IL 96 S  (don't miss the 2nd Right) 28 mi to a L on US 24 S (before Quincy) 3 mi to a R on I-172 E for 20 miles continuing onto I-72 for 55 miles to a R on US 67 S just west of Jacksonville, 4 miles to a L on Woodson-Winchester road 4 miles to a R on IL 267 S 22 mi to & through Greenfield, Illinois, L onto IL 108, 22 mi to R on I-55 S 7 miles to Litchfield (best route)

6 Oct:  Off to Keosauqua to visit cousin Rex.  Finding Danielle and five BIG dogs at the house was quite the surprise. Rex, Danielle and the dogs are there to take care of his father, cousin Rex, who cheerfully replies that he is alive and well.  Marvin and Doris picked us up to take us to lunch at the Bonaparte Retreat (click here).  Cousin Sharon joined us there, and we all enjoyed a comfortable conversation.  Sharon says that her sister Carolyn took a photo of the piece of lumber with the name "William Beatty" that came to light during the remodel.  We called Scott since Cynthia won't ride out the gravel road to his house, but he declined to come into town to see us, so we were able to leave in late afternoon and arrive in Keokuk, Iowa before dark, laid down in bed, and slept for a couple of hours.  Ron then rode to the gas station, to ALDI for raspberries, and to Walmart for air in the tires.  We then enjoyed sleep, lots of asleep.

5 Oct, Sunday:  We left "early" (before noon) and arrived in Fairfield before dark.  The Super 8 is not a bad motel and is conveniently close to a Walmart that sells blueberries, raspberries and bananas.  We went to sleep early and enjoyed our sleep.

4 Oct:  This was an exciting morning watching Kole play football.  He caught a pass for a "first down," sacked the quarterback and pursued runners all over the backfield.  Best friends Cynthia and Ann were so very happy to see each other that we are elated that we went.  Jerry and Betty picked us up for the class reunion luncheon, thanks to Dave and Annie.  Roy's daughter brought him down from Pine Mont, MN, and Myra made it out, looking good and still very comfortably mobile.

3 Oct:  We were up early to see Dick and Jane at 9 am - - - except they read the blog last night and thought that tomorrow meant Saturday.  All was not lost.  They showed up about 11 am, and we spent hours enjoying conversation.  After they left, Cynthia screwed up her courage, and the two of us walked across the road to Subway for dinner.  After our subs, we walked an extra mile getting back to our room, by which time Cynthia's pain was tolerable.

2 Oct:  We got in gear by 1 pm to walk over to the Iowa Welcome Center and enjoyed talking to Charlie Henderson.  Cynthia found lots of interesting cards to send to the great-grandchildren.  We continued walking from there and are really quite pleased that Cynthia was walking more easily today, Thank God.  Ron has been pushing forward on the Volume 2 indexing.  We enjoyed another delightful visit with Dave and Pat over dinner this evening at the Woodfire Grill in the Casino.  We had way too much adult conversation about medical afflictions, but after an hour of that we segued into talking about children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren until Pat's pain became too great and we left.  Unfortunately Cynthia's sciatic pains returned to and from the restaurant.

1 Oct:  Tomorrow has come and gone!  We will precede fall south after a few more days in Northwood, Iowa.  This Holiday Inn is either on the farm owned by Cynthia’s Turvold great-grandparents or next to it.  Cousin Ray came to visit for a couple of hours and took Ron to Subway in Northwood for lunch.  Ron remembered to bring half a veggie sub back to Cynthia, and she appreciated it mightily.  We managed to walk up and down the hallways about half a hundred times, and then again later, with the pleasurable results that Cynthia fell asleep early and slept well all night.

Remembering sister Merrilee.

September, Two Rolling Stones

This is our R1250 RT with custom seat.

30 Sep:  We continued our binging on ice cream, but tomorrow is the 1st of October and we must quit that in order to have perfect lab scores by the 1st of January for our doctor's appointments.  We enjoyed lunch with Deanna and Julie at the R80 in Kensett.  They gave us a lovely tribute to their departed brother Danny and showed us several pictures of his art work.

"Hudson has tricks" was the warning

29 Sep:  Brett, Jenn, Hudson & Holden met us again at Northern TapHouse at 10 AM for a final brunch and that chess game.  Hudson has learned the chess moves reasonably well, but he hasn't learned to look ahead for hazards; Ron won.  We again rode I-494 around to MN 77 south across the Minnesota River to highway 13 to Jensen's for lunch with Carolyn at 2 pm.  We had a lovely visit and decided to confine our lunches in the future to the three of us.  About 4:30 we headed south on I-35E, but we were not ahead of the evening rush hour.  On the plus side, the traffic thinned with every exit until it was quite light by the time we entered Iowa, and we did arrive in Northwood without undo delay.

Resting after the Bocce fiasco

28 Sep, Sunday:  We did indeed have great fun although we didn't follow the plan.  Brett, Jenn, Hudson & Holden met us at the Northern TapHouse for breakfast & lunch at 12:30.  The TapHouse doesn't do egg whites, but they were willing to cook a veggie omelet for Cynthia using eggs, and she reported it as very tasty.  3-year-old Holden needs to be active at all times, so Jenn took the boys for a walk while we were waiting for the food to arrive.  They cover quite a significant distance in 20 minutes.  After lunch we decided to go to a park in Edina that has Bocce courts and bowling.  3-year-old Holden enjoyed chasing the Bocce balls and collecting them into groups.  We all had fun despite being unable to score.  Brett and Cynthia talked religion and politics while Jenn and I took the boys for a long stroll along the lake.  Especially fascinating were the couple of remote-control boats plying the waters amid flocks of ravenously hungry ducks being fed from shore by bystanders.  Eventually we reassembled just before cell phone calls were made to reassemble, and from there we drove to Licks in Excelsior (click here), a great ice creamery with fascinating flavor names, like Exhausted Parent, Heaps of Love, Fat Elvis, Sticks and Stones, and This Just Got Serious.  I got two flavors in a quart, and it was all delicious, but I didn't pay attention to the names of the flavors selected by my server.

27 Sep:  Brett, Jenn and the boys picked us up at the hotel at 9:15 for Hudson’s soccer game at 11:00 AM.  On this chilly Minnesota morning we watched the Western Minneapolis suburbs first grade soccer teams.  Geat-grandson Hudson was the first goalie for his team.  Hudson’s team scored a goal but lost 2-1.  The historic event was followed by a lunch at Birch's (click here) in Wayzata overlooking one of Minnesota’s ten thousand lakes.  Everyone overate! and the brownie fudge sundae was outstanding!!  Brett had the best idea to walk it off at the U of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.  What a great idea, and we all are so happy that Cynthia's torn tendons warmed up so that she was able to comfortably walk more than two miles.  The trees and flowers were gorgeous.  Thanks to Jenn and Brett for a fabulous time.  The challenge chess match with Hudson is postponed until tomorrow.  We are looking forward to great fun.

26 Sep:  We had a fabulous Lunch at 1:30 PM at Jensen’s Restaurant with Cynthia's Turvold cousin Darlene & husband Jim, plus Lance & Shelley and Donna.  We didn't solve any world problems, but we had a lot of fun with the conversation.  Cynthia was a bit anxious on the motorcycle on I-494 traffic through significant construction, but we got there in only 30+ minutes despite a five-minute stop and go in Eden Prairie.

25 Sep:  Cynthia's pain is significantly reduced this morning, and we walked for 45 minutes around the neighborhood.  We drank no alcohol this evening when Brett and Jenn brought the boys to the TapHouse again.  Again it was so fun to watch the boys.  At 7 years old, Hudson is much more calm and sedate, behaves much better and spends a lot of time ruminating.  At 3 years old, Holden does none of those things and is in perpetual motion, having fun one instant at a time.  It is so strange to think that earlier this very month we were still in Pagosa Springs, Colorado and that we have visited Roy and Barbara in Salt Lake City since.

24 Sep:  We spent the afternoon with Brett at the TapHouse, had a wonderful conversation, drank WAAay too much beer and wine respectively, and staggered the half block back to the hotel, leaning hard on each other to stay upright.  Ron had switched to drinking water about 3 PM, intending to ride the motorcycle to see Hudson's soccer practice, so he was quite disappointed when Brett told him that soccer practice was probably already over.  After escorting Cynthia back to the hotel and into bed, Ron went for a long walk and cell-phone talk with friend Bob.  Bad news there is that Bob's wife, Rachel, is moving into hospice care Friday.  The outlook is miserably grim; she has an aggressive cancer in her brain.

23 Sep:   The 10 AM online Zoom call with Eric K was a disaster.  It emphasized how little we can accomplish with a new computer paradigm.  We won't try that again until we can meet in person with Eric so that he can walk us through the logon.  (That's right, we were unable to even logon to his Advisors Crypto site.)  Brett and family visited us in the evening at the Taphouse for a delightful outdoors evening meal.  Afterwards we took Hudson and Holden over to sit on the motorcycle, eliciting HUGE smiles from the boys.  Cynthia and I went for a couple of short walks of a couple of blocks, but she was in significant pain all the time.

22 Sep:  A Blessed Monday of rest and relaxation.  Reservations are made for next week in Northwood.  Our visiting plans are "coming together" in that everyone wants a different date and different time.  Oh well, we love our friends and relations anyway.

21 Sep, Sunday:  Ron had barely finished his exercises and eaten a bowl of cereal when Brett, Jenn, Hudson, and Holden showed up for breakfast at the Northern Taphouse (click here), a pretty good pub next door to the hotel.  We thoroughly enjoyed our day with them, watching the kids running all over the farm where we picked apples, green beans, and raspberries.  Then Brett drove us all the way downtown to the Minnesota Institute of Art, nicknamed, very inappropriately, MIA.  Cynthia walked all over the farm without problem and lasted into the Museum before she suddenly ran out of steam and needed to leave in order to find food.  Brett treated us to a lovely dinner and brownie ala mode dessert at the Boulevard (BLVD - click here).

20 Sep:  After that one evening, we were back on the I-35 north to Medina, Minnesota, a NW Minneapolis suburb, to see Brett & Jenn, Hudson & Holden.  This was again a quick day, 150 miles to the Country Inn & Suites, within 10 miles of their house, still undergoing remodeling.  What a horror show the insurance company has put them through.  We ate dinner at a good restaurant and invited them to join us for breakfast tomorrow.   Route: I-35 to I-494 through the endless construction to the Carlson Parkway exit in Plymouth.

19 Sep:  Serendipity strikes.  We rode 100 miles east on I-80 to Des Moines to see cousin Sandy and her son Van.  Sandy is still as sweet as ever but is really quite bewildered by all the things she now just doesn't understand.  Cynthia was touched to see the role reversal in that Van is now very solicitous of his mother and takes care of her with patience and understanding.  We then called Ray Mechem in Mason City and rode those 200 miles on I-35 north.  Upon arrival, we called again and were invited over to see Ray and Dick (who we missed in Berthoud, Colorado) and their wives Mary and Fran, plus a bonus daughter (Malinda ?) and son-in-law.

18 Sep:  Today we get to stay put for a change and visit friends.  We did walk to the National Danish Museum (click here).  That was a very interesting museum, and Ron particularly like the Danish pottery on display on the upper floor.  It was also interesting to see the artifacts on shelving in the basement.  Cynthia did better with the walking today and is feeling better.  At 5:30 we returned to the Norse Horse bar for dinner with Deb, Karma, Barb and James.  The women had one conversation, Ron and James had a different one about golf, airplanes and AI, but a good time was had by all.

17 Sep:  We arrived in Elk Horn this afternoon at two.  Good news: we enjoyed another great lunch at the Ruby Tuesday in Lincoln.  It was great to see the Welcome to Iowa sign.  This was a much more gentle day, only 167 miles.  We didn't do a lot after checking in to the Hygge Inn but napped and then took a long walk around town to see the changes.  Sadly, the town is losing much of the charm that it had when the National Danish Museum was located there.  For Cynthia, the best part was to go to sleep early and sleep well.

16 Sep:  Cynthia owes everyone email, but her hand complains.  The sun is shining, we are fed and exercised, now to pack and ride for a thousand hours.  We rode directly to a Ruby Tuesday restaurant in North Platte for a delightful lunch of veggies and greens.  Today was less pleasant, hot and humid with more traffic, another 300 mile day.  We are in York, Nebraska. … 866 miles in three days on I-80.

15 Sep:  The weather has been grand!  We were on that smooth road in Wyoming by ten AM headed for Nebraska.  Cynthia’s back is good; Ron fed her ice cream every time she growled.  We stopped in Sidney, Nebraska, two hours east of North Platte.  After eating, Cynthia declared herself exhausted.  The wind was a little less rough than yesterday, and the traffic was still light.  Ron never expected two days on the super slab to be tolerable.  It helped that Nebraska revoked its helmet law last year, so Ron was able to enjoy the wind whistling through his ears.  257 miles this time.

14 Sep, Sunday:  Ron and Cynthia plan to depart "early" for Elk Horn, Iowa (click here).  Since I-80 is the most convenient road to take from here, we will give it a try despite Ron's disinclination to spend so much time on the super slab.  Let's hope it will be easier on Cynthia's back.  The ride was long, 300 miles, and we arrived successfully in Rawlins, Wyoming at 5:30 PM.  The ride was not as bad as expected since the traffic was less than expected, although the wind was quite strong and buffeted us constantly.  The road surface was quite smooth, especially in Utah and Wyoming.

13 Sep:  Ron intended to spend the day with Roy, but instead wrote postcards and watched political news until Cynthia woke up from a long afternoon nap.  Ron then rode over to Roy's to spent an hour with him in his "man-cave" until time for Roy, Barbara and Ron to drive to the hotel to pick up Cynthia for dinner again at the Market Street Grill.  Again we all enjoyed conversing with each other about church, genealogy, etc.

12 Sep:  We were almost packed in Rangely when the earliest raindrops started falling at 10 am.  We waited for 2.5 hours until the rain stopped entirely, quite unusual for the desert high country.  We were so very relieved to be looking at Blue skies ahead for the first 30 miles to the town of Dinasaur but noticed a tongue of cloud reaching northward from a very dark southern horizon as we turned to go west.  In Vernal, UT we stopped at a Subway to be sure that Cynthia had something substantial so many hours after breakfast.  We managed to get out from underneath those clouds, but there were equally worrisome clouds above the mountains to the west, and those kept getting darker and darker as we approached closer and closer.  We stopped in Duchesne at the Visitor Information Center where a lovely lady told us that the heaviest rain would be at Strawberry Pass but that it was sunny in Heber City and Salt Lake.  Ron decided to hope for the best, but soon after we left Duchesne, we again encountered  heavy rain and hail.  This time the rain was not as blinding, but the hail stung Ron's face more severely.  After ten minutes we passed through it, and Ron was much relieved although we were still climbing towards the actual pass.  The mountain top was a lovely huge flat area with two or three huge lakes, quite scenic and worth the difficulty getting there that day.  The descent from the pass was interminable through winding canyons to Heber City, and winding again down I-80 into Salt Lake City.  We called Roy and Barbara immediately after arrival at our hotel, and they picked us up half an hour later for dinner at the Market Street Grill & Oyster Bar (click here), just a few blocks from our hotel.  We all enjoyed lively conversation about church, genealogy, etc.  Ron redid the graphs for Volume Three, and Cynthia sent corrections to the publisher.

11 Sep:  Leaving Montrose on US 550 and then US 50 N, we turned on CO 92 E and started up Colorado Route 64 over Grand Mesa en route to Rangely, Colorado, but in ten miles we first encountered big heavy raindrops and spent no time in turning around and ran straight into a heavy deluge of blinding rain and hail for twenty minutes.  Amazing that formerly dry conditions can be transformed so completely, so rapidly.  This is Cynthia's first experience with hail; it makes quite a racket on her helmet.  Ron doesn't wear a helmet, so the hail only brutalized his face.  He back-tracked to Delta, CO and proceeded through Grand Junction following the GPS to I-70 West to CO highway 139 north to Rangely.  It was a very interesting ride with rocky mountains, 15 MPH hairpin-turns, and occasionally threatening storm clouds.  The hotel is nice, and we walked the length of town to Gio's, which restaurant served us nice salads and ice cream with caramel topping!

10 Sept: After breakfast Ron rode to visit Pat with a top case filled with recycling he could not unload in Pagosa Springs.  Cynthia spent the day exercising her back, taking a shower and packing.  Volume One is being printed.  The Volume Three galley proof was not in color, had fuzzy graphs and had a mistake in labeling on one graph.  Ron still needs to improve the index for Volume Two by deleting duplicative entries.

9 Sep:  Montrose, Howard joined us for lunch at the Stone House and took us to visit the Ute Indian Museum, a very interesting place.  Cynthia took a step off the boardwalk that was too big for her legs and pounded her back, and her sciatica is reminding her to not do that again anytime soon.  Ron and Howard enjoyed an afternoon stroll through the riverside water park, but Howard decided not to stay for dinner so he could get home before the deer make driving dangerous for all concerned.  Volume One is off to the printer.  Yaay.

8 Sep:  Ron planned an early departure for Montrose, Colorado, and we did get started about 10:30, which is early for us.  We were surprised to find much warmer temperatures than the BRRRRR anticipated.  Cynthia wore her heated gear that was totally unnecessary for the entire ride, although it did get cold going over the 10,000 foot passes.  We intended to eat lunch at the Lone Star Cafe in Durango, but it was closed, so we ate at the Sidewalk Cafe instead.  Dinner was at the Stone House in Montrose.  The route was simplicity itself, US 160 W to Durango with a stop for lunch, US 550 N through Silverton to the "million dollar highway" to Ouray and continuing to Montrose and the Quality Inn just past Walmart.

7 Sep, Sunday:  Ron received an e-mail with four absorbing interviews from his MIT reunion in April.  Today is packing day!  We walked early and spotted several deer.   Dinner was at  Boss Hogg’s at 4:30. We are so tired it is off to bed.

6 Sep:  Ron worked on Volume Two and is making great progress.  Our lunch was great.  Cynthia is surprised at how much she loves broccoli with honey mustard.  We had a delightful visit with a couple from Georgetown, Texas.  We walked the neighborhood.  Cynthia is finally writing overdue email to her family.  Eleven grandchildren and thirteen great grands takes a lot of writing with one finger typing.  She submitted dirty clothes to the washing machine.  Her favorite word is clean.

5 Sep:  Cynthia's box of mostly clothing was shipped back to Texas!  We had a 76 minute walk to the lake and spotted six bucks and two had ten points.  This was a successful day.

Cynthia achieved her goal of making it to the lake.

4 Sep:  At noon-thirty, we have walked the loop around the subdivision once.  Cynthia has packed her saddlebag to see how much she can fit inside (not much!)  Ron has completed his first pass thru the index and now needs to take recycling to the County Transfer Station.  After feeding our faces, Ron rode to the recycling center with the mountain of recycling from the past six weeks, cardboard, clamshell plastics, etc.  What a joy that they took it all.  We walked in the evening for a total of 4.51 miles and returned to our motel to go back to work.  Ron re-packed Cynthia's saddlebag and discovered that she can carry another outfit.  He then packed the box for shipping things back to Texas and was amazed that the return box was smaller than the original.

Cynthia got a pedicure

3 Sep:  On this gorgeous day in Pagosa Springs, the housekeeper has cleaned our room.  Cynthia has bathed and eaten and is ready for her nail and pedicure appointment.  Ron has been working on the index for Vol. 2.  Life is very good despite that  Cynthia tripped and fell on the trail to the nail salon.  Every year so far, she has fallen once as we begin hiking; this year was no exception.  We enjoyed a pasta salad with salmon dinner at Gustoso’s.

2 Sep:  By evening, Ron finished the edits for Volume Two; next, he needs to proof the index and re-insert it.  We slept beautifully, and we had a great walk with perfect 73-degree temperature under the most gorgeous blue sky.  A mother deer and her “teenage” son ignored us as we passed by.  With tonight’s second walk, we achieved a total of 4.35 miles, 10,929 steps. 

1 Sep:  Pritikin says. “You can eat ice cream on your own birthday, just not on everyone else’s birthdays.”  We could not help ourselves since it is Cynthia’s third great-grandmother, Brynhild Olsdatter Gandrud’s birthday, born 247 years ago in Flaa, Norway.  Right?  Happy Birthday, Bestemor.  The ice cream was delicious.  The first day of September is beautiful.  Ron worked on Vol. Two all afternoon.  We accidentally sent Vol Three as an edit file instead of a .pdf; Barb caught it, and we submitted the correct file.  Cynthia’s right hand is in a brace so she one-finger corrected some Brooks genealogy.  We walked early and at 4:30 ate dinner.

Aug in Pagosa Springs, Colorado & Lea Book is at the Publisher

Old photo of Ron with salad at Pritikin

31 Aug, Sunday:  Eight more days until the five day ride towards Salt Lake City, God willing.  Cynthia is very thankful to God for Ron, and Ron for Cynthia. (Smooch!)  She is incredibly blessed.  Ron updated Vol. One with significantly improved images of Maurice Gleeson's graphs.  And Volume Three is completed.  Both volumes ARE SUBMITTED TO THE PUBLISHER!!!  Ron will finish Volume Two as time permits, while traveling to Salt Lake City.  Eliza is such a dear; who ever heard of a waitress bringing ice cream from home to give to her favorite customers??  3.82 miles;  We saw a deer with a little fawn cross the road in front of us.

30 Aug:  The sun is shining with cool temperatures.  After enjoying a much-needed three-day-hiatus from James Lea, Ron is working on Volume 3 which is very close to completion; he expects to complete it tomorrow.  While working on Volume 3, he discovered that the DNA graphs are very clear in color and can be made very clear in black and white, so he needs to again revisit Volume 1 to fix those.  We will submit volume 3 and the corrected Volume One on Tuesday.  Then Ron will finish the index on Volume 2.  It is conceivable all three volumes will get to the publisher before Sept 8, (God willing!).  Cynthia is now free from back pain while walking.  Hurrah, but, she is back in the hand brace full-time.  Cynthia thinks that we need to move mountains in the next eight days.  The box of supplies is almost ready to be shipped back to Texas.  And she submitted the laundry to the washing machine again.  We walked a total of 4.14 miles and 10,560 steps.

29 Aug:  On this rainy day, we haven’t figured out a course of inaction. Volume One galley proof arrived yesterday creating joy followed by panic.  Ron extolled the beauty of the workmanship until he recognized we sent them a link to the wrong manuscript.  The correct link was sent after Ron made a couple of minor corrections.  The correct galley proof will be ready early next week.  Cynthia sent the cover design with very explicit instructions.  That, too, will be ready next week.  Ron decided a morning nap would be good.

28 Aug:  It is a gorgeous day in Pagosa to have a wonderful day!  And we did!  Our walking totaled 2.84 miles, and we enjoyed a delicious garlic/salmon/veggie/pasta salad.  Ron mended his socks and walked again tonight. 

27 Aug:  The sun is shining and so are our hearts.  Life is good as long as we don’t turn on the news to the Minneapolis killing fields.  Ron finished recording his receipts, we had a lovely walk, and Cynthia totaled sixty minutes walking for the day.  

26 Aug:  We were very surprised to sleep past 9 AM this morning, but we feel wonderful.  Ron got busy with much-neglected correspondence, which he finished after lunch at Boss Hogg's and promptly mailed at the Post Office.  Martin told him of a new route into town to avoid the construction.  The new route was very nice, but that bridge over the river showed the water level disappointingly low.  Late afternoon, the rain began and looks to have poured down an appreciable amount of water before dark.

25 Aug:  Yaay Hooray!  Hallelujah!  Volume One is off to the publisher!  It will take a week to go through clearing it legally; they check for copyright and plagiarism.  Then they start on the cover design.  Ron plans to take a couple days break before finishing Vol three and Vol two.  Both are written but need work.  We ate lunch at Gustoso's, pasta salad and salmon.

24 Aug: Sunday:  Ssssshhhh!  This is Ron’s day of rest.  We did indeed sleep late and enjoyed our usual breakfast while Ron watched financial news.

23 Aug:  Ron said he is shellshocked because Volume One is really completed, including creation of the .pdf.  But, he won’t email it out of his control to Cynthia until Monday morning.  Cynthia has the submission letter prepared.  Being bored in the hotel room this past month, she thought to submit her latest book, SUNDAY OFFERINGS, as her PhD dissertation.  It was due 28 years ago when she had a traumatic horseback riding accident.  We will see if they accept it this week.  Ron is walking (maybe dancing).

22 Aug:  Yay for sleep.  Yay for Ron who is at page 229 with sixty pages left in the very last procedure before he creates the .pdf of Volume One for submission.  He is highlighting the index entries leading to family group sheets.  And now he is going for a walk while Cynthia does exercises.  After Ron’s walk, we had a great lunch at Boss Hogg’s, agreeing that fresh, raw vegetables make us feel good.  Ron needs a break from the computer tonight so he will take a thirty minute walk, and we will say Good Night!  Page 229! Hooray!

21 Aug:  Today, we did the epidural at 8:30 AM.  It was a rousing success.  Zzzz all morning and afternoon.  Yay!  It transformed me from the Wicked Witch of the West into Glenda the Good Witch with a pink halo. 

20 Aug:  Epidural Day!  Hooray! No? Waaah! The appointment was a consultation instead of the epidural…  Despite a gloomy forecast, those saintly medical professionals got the epidural scheduled for tomorrow at 8:30 AM.  I continue to learn more each visit.  Today, I learned it is likely I will not need surgery, but I may need a couple more epidurals in the future.  The page checks are completed, and Ron is highlighting the index entries leading to family group sheets.  I am hopeful we will be able to submit Volume One to the publisher this week.  He is working hard!  Cynthia submitted the laundry to the washing machine early.

19 Aug:  Ron completed pruning the index!  Now, he is verifying page number references within the text; the final step will be to go through the book searching for family group sheets and highlight those pages in the index via bold print, but there are not too many of them.  Soooo close!  Yaay! And on this day, Cynthia had a blood test to see if she still has any left.  Indeed she does.  MEDICAL.  The salad bar at Boss Hogg’s is the best!

18 Aug: Mon:  Ron mailed an Amazon return package at the UPS near City Market.  We enjoyed lunch at Boss Hogg’s because Gustoso’s was closed.

17 Aug, Sunday:  Neither of us slept well due to Cynthia’s back pain.  She is counting the minutes until Wednesday at nine AM.  The spinal issue dates back to Nov 30, 1997 when she was thrown thirty feet from a retired race horse.  This will heal again!  Ron took a long walk today after he worked on the index.  We ate lunch at Boss Hogg’s and took a three hour nap.  Will we sleep tonight?  Yes, we did.  Only two more days until pain relief!

16 Aug:  Lazy day.  Ron enjoyed watching a motorcycle police video while Cynthia slept.  Now he needs to ride his motorcycle to find Tylenol.  Riding in the mountains this past week, Ron realized he needs to practice his riding skill doing circles and figure eights.  We walked to Gustoso's Italian Restaurant for pasta salad with yummy salmon.  Only three more days to Cynthia's steroid epidural.  Uffda!  God willing it works!!!  She has zero pain sitting, only particularly when standing up and much less while walking.  And only three more weeks until we begin the ride to Minnesota!  Cynthia needs a photo of Pagosa Springs for the August post!  Ron is at page 439/489 on the index of Volume One.  It is slow-going, bless his heart!

15 Aug:  Ron picked up Cynthia at the Durango airport after her flight from Houston arrived as scheduled at 11:21 AM.  She arrived 11:15, Ron arrived 11:30.  YAAAY !

14 Aug:  Ron traveled to Gunnison, Colorado yesterday to visit Howard and Sage.  He rode to Pagosa today arriving wet from rain the last ten minutes.  I LOVE YOU,  Cynthia has a morning appointment;  she cleaned and organized the storage unit.

13 Aug:  Ron is visiting friends in Montrose where he discovered his calling to become a plumber by helping to replace a garbage disposal.  SMOOCH,  Cynthia has two MEDICAL appointments.  Howard has promised to call today to decide if his calendar has sufficient time to see Ron this month.  If not, we will stop by after September 8th on our way northward.

12 Aug:  Ron is a free spirit.  MUAH, from TX.  Cynthia has an eight AM DENTAL appointment.  Pray for her as she drives east into Houston’s bright morning sun.  WHY is the Sun brighter in Texas than any other place on earth?  Cynthia enjoyed a lovely pedi/mani and TWO naps today.  Ron and Pat got the old garbage disposal out of the sink and read everything under the sun to figure out how to install its replacement ... tomorrow.  Cynthia is moving about quite nicely today and yesterday, Thank God.

11 Aug:  We hustled up early to get Cynthia to the Durango airport by 10:30 AM; she flew to Houston.  Ron continued riding north to Silverton and Ouray over the Million Dollar Highway to Montrose, Colorado to see his former roommate Pat.  It was 63 degrees at noon-thirty atop the red mountain pass and the wind began buffeting Ron during all those switchbacks on the way down.  Ron enjoyed the awesome scenery much more previously when he was more confident about his motorcycling skills.  After Pat and Ron enjoyed a terrific meal at the Stone House, our favorite in Montose, Ron returned to James Lea and found that many of his page numbers installed after the pages were set in stone are now incorrect.  Bummer.

10 Aug: Sunday, We had a delicious night sleep. Cynthia is preparing for tomorrow’s flight.  Ron worked industriously completing D-LEA of the index.  Ron, Extraordinaire!  So close to completion, but we had to stop and pack because our motel is on the pre-evacuation list for a wildfire four miles west of Pagosa Springs.  Hopefully, we will get to sleep through the night!

9 Aug:  We didn't sleep well last night either, but we are awake and working on computers at 10:36 am.  By 1:30 we were enjoying salmon and chicken pasta salads at Gustoso’s.  Yum.  By 4:55 we woke up from our long nap and were back to work!  At 8:30 with 381 pages of James Lea completely proofread, Ron intended to go walking but instead told motorcycling stories for  two hours to two motorcyclists from Kansas.  He reviewed 20 pages of the index, but because he is finding too many corrections for the index, it won’t get done this week!  Bummer! 

8 Aug:  MEDICAL- The plan is to leave for the doctor’s appointment in Durango about ten AM - and we did leave at 10:22.  We are home at 1:30 PM with MRI results of Radiculopathy... meaning the L-4 and L-5 are in a tight squeeze for space causing the nerves to complain loudly.  Unfortunately, the doctors do not have space in their calendar to do a steroid epidural injection for weeks.  But, Food Is Our Medicine!  Prayer Works!  And Cynthia Will Work On Physical Therapy to Relieve Symptoms.  Team work!  Ron is doing an amazing job on the manuscript; he reached p. 261.  Proofreading gets easier at page 296.  We should be able to submit Volume One manuscript Sat or Sunday, God willing.  Yay. 😀 He is beyond amazing!  And he walked to Wally World for raspberries, blueberries, almonds, and popcorn.

7 Aug:  Ron is delighted to be going through James Lea so quickly and is making many improvements and corrections.  Smiles and Hurrahs!  Today we arose early although I cannot imagine why, so Ron is out the door at 9:45 and 73 degrees to walk to the boat ramp and back.  Then it will be time for lunch at Boss Hogg's, and then James Lea all afternoon to avoid the 85 degree heat.  The salad bar is above and beyond most salad bars.  We eat a lot.  We fell asleep at four PM to six PM, now, back to work.  Ron is hopeful we can send it to the publisher by Monday.  That’s good!  Page 240, but Barb, don’t get your hopes up.  We have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow.

6 Aug:  Another day, another dollar ... actually $75 from options today, and lucky to get that.  Cynthia's spinal pain is just about intolerable; she is quite the trooper.  We did walk to Boss Hogg's even though today is Liza's day off.  Amber came in to do our housekeeping and kept Ron talking for that duration (poor Amber).  Now it is time for Ron to relinquish James Lea at page 173 in order to walk before dark to Walmart for blueberries, raspberries, frozen mango, jam, and Tylenol.  He actually remembered them all.!!

5 Aug:  I love you (and get first written I love you of the day).  And Cynthia IS very surprised!  We are two worn-out puppies.  We walked to lunch and returned to our computers only to fall asleep sitting up.  Ron has completed his proofreading and editing up to page 148 now.  Our only walking today was to Boss Hogg's for lunch.

4 Aug:  Medical: 3:45 PM, MRI.  Ron lazed in bed and answered two e-mails by noon.  Then he did his exercises, and we walked to Boss Hogg's for luncheon salads.  Cynthia had to lie flat on her back for the MRI, and the pain was VERY severe.  Afterwards we rode to Gustoso for salmon and it was very good.  Cynthia especially enjoyed the feta cheese and olives on the accompanying salad.  Ron resumed James Lea instead of trying to take his over-full body out for a walk.  111 pages, but no long walk today.

3 Aug, Sunday:  Good Sunday Morning!  Ron started early doing the final pass through of Volume One.  In just one week, he has proofed eighty-eight pages; there is a good chance he will have Volume One ready to go to the publisher in three weeks, God willing.  By evening, after spending hours on broken links Ron decided to go to the market for groceries.  Cynthia decided to see if her seminary will accept her recently published book, Sunday Offerings, as her PhD dissertation.  She was ABD in Nov of 1997 when she had a life-changing horseback riding accident, and her son Scott died from Leukemia a few months later.  We will walk to the corner in an hour.

2 Aug:  Another great day!  Ron had a very challenging Sudoku captivating his attention until two PM when we walked for lunch.  Cynthia is avoiding news by focusing on FTDNA.  We walked again tonight to check out two restaurants for salmon.  It was fun to learn that the upscale French bakery, Faire, is owned by the same woman who had the Two Chicks and a Hippie restaurant in there, but this new cafe is managed by her daughter, Bethany.  Two Chicks has greatly expanded and is very successful.

1 Aug:  Happy, happy August!  After two weeks in Pagosa, mostly spent in our hotel room with hip pain, healing appears to be on the horizon.  Cynthia’s hip pain is greatly improved, thanks to a spinal relaxation exercise recommended by Dr. ChatGPT.  The MRI is scheduled for 3:45 PM on Monday.  Colorado Spine is scheduled for Friday at 11:30 AM.   Vol I is getting the final pass through.  We have five weeks to finish the index for Vol II and maybe Vol III, God willing, before we ride to Denver, then to Minnesota about mid-Sept, and through Iowa in early mid-October.  Then we start planning 2026?  Yikes! 

Happy Birthday July! On the road again with improved eyesight

31 Jul:  Hey, Ron, We didn’t do much this morning but look at computers.  Ron is doing a one last pass through Volume One.  Cynthia is giddy with delight that sleep was fabulous and pain-free, and so is walking.  The walk to Boss Hogg’s for lunch had minor discomfort at the end, so, too, wth the walk home.  It is interesting how the pain shifted from the hip to the calf.  But, every day is an improvement!  Evidently, this is related to L-4 and L-5 nerve root issues.  We are awaiting a call from the radiologist to schedule an MRI.  Tomorrow, we should try Pagosa Peaks salmon.  Afternoon rains for hours prevented Ron from his daily walk.

30 Jul:  Our big treat every day here is walking next door to Boss Hogg's (click here) for their wonderful, expanded salad bar.  We've been unable to convince the owner to serve us salmon.  With salmon we would eat every meal there.  Today we have to straighten up so that the housekeeping can clean our room, but at 10 am, Ron still hasn't done his morning exercises or eaten breakfast.

29 Jul:  Another beautiful day after good night sleeps.  Unfortunately Cynthia tried standing on her toes, which resulted in excruciating pain; but she quickly returned to bed for ten minutes relaxation, which seemed to fix the problem.  Ron worked on the index for Volume 2 again, but stopped for a long walk to the boat ramp again this evening, returning after dark, tired and ready for bed.

28 Jul:  MEDICAL:  We have a one hundred twenty mile roundtrip to Spine Colorado in Durango: a steroid pak, PT, and MRI are ordered.  The doctor was very well versed in lower back problems and explained three possible causes.  The ride was gorgeous!  The rain came soon after we returned to the motel from Boss Hogg's, our nearest, bestest restaurant with Liza, our bestest waitress.  After the rain stopped and things dried out, Ron walked to the pharmacy at City Market and to the pharmacy at Walmart for Cynthia's two prescriptions.  He returned very tired with raspberries, blueberries and bread.  Now for tooth brushing and bed.

27 Jul, Sunday:  Blessings on your Sunday!  Ron had chaos with the index for Vol Two, Cynthia and Barb finished proofreading Vol One, and Cynthia did a lot of PT for that nasty piriformis.  It was exciting to connect with Shirley's children; Shirley was closest her childhood neighbor and friend.

26 Jul:  Ron, what did we do on Sat besides eat, walk 4.76 miles (besides your ninety plus minute walk at 9:30 PM), index Vol Two, proofread Vol One, and have way too much fun?

25 Jul:  Medical: RX pick up.  Ron sold the call order.  Cynthia reached page 300 proofreading Volume One.  Ron is not having fun indexing Volume Two.  We ate the salad bar at Boss Hogg’s and walked tonight.  2.68 total miles.  We do indeed have so much fun on our vacation.

24 Jul:  Ron put in an order to buy a call since it looks like the market will go up today.  Cynthia and Barb are proofreading Volume One.  Barb is a Lea descendant who is a major contributor.  Mostly, we vacationed (aka slept) today.  Cynthia’s piriformis syndrome is almost healed thanks to due diligence in exercising.  Ron walked to Walmart, hoping to find a pair of green Superfeet insoles, but returned with only the usual blueberries, raspberries and frozen mango.  As he passed the Pagosa Thai restaurant, another friendly soul, Mike from Mesa, AZ, struck up a conversation.  Hi Mike.

23 Jul:  Sistah Carol and little Carole Anne have birthdays.!!  And we sang the birthday song to Carol's answering machine and again when she returned our call half an hour later.  Ron has become focussed on Volume 2 index with occasional sudokus for respite.  He walked to Walmart and barely beat the rain home and walked again after dark around the neighborhood.

22 Jul:  MEDICAL:  Cynthia had a Dr appt. at Urgent Care before a fabulous gully washer with impressive lightning.  We sat under a roof overhang waiting for the rain to let up, and when it did, Cynthia used a plastic bag on her head to boogie back to the hotel.  Unfortunately, the rain increased; she was offered a ride several times but like a good Girl Scout she continued on…!  Her shoes were soaked.  Ron followed about an hour later when the rain let up significantly.  The rain continued until 6:30 PM.  Rain is very welcome as it was sorely needed.

21 Jul:  Monday promises to be busy for Cynthia, what with reading the completed Volume One!  Hurrah!  We will exercise, do the stretches, pick up a package at the post office (nope), retrieve a prescription (nope), and we heard from a doctor confirming Cynthia's piriformis appointment next Monday at 10:30 AM.  Fortunately the discomfort has improved significantly the last two days with rest, ice and stretching.

20 Jul, Sunday:  Good Sunday Morning!  Here is a link to Cynthia’s newly published book: https://www.authorhouse.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/868439-sunday-offerings  And Ron is happy to announce that he cannot think of anything else to do to improve Volume 1 of James Lea, James Lea, James Lea of Cawell County, North Carolina in 1790.  He will work on improving the index for Volume 2 and creating Volume 3 in the next few days while Cynthia is struggling to keep her enthusiasm in check to allow her piriformis to relax.  (Ron is always very funny.)  Ron walked to the lake tonight.  We should sleep good!

19 Jul:  Another good night of sleep.  How many younger people have ever mentioned a good night's sleep as a high point?  Adult conversation.  We awakened late and were slow to get moving today.  Cynthia has decided that her piriformis syndrome was brought on by abuse/overuse striving for seven mile days, seven days a week, followed by too much sitting after eyelid surgery while walking was prohibited, and way too much walking too soon after the month-long prohibition was lifted.  Now we need to learn how to get that little muscle to relax instead of strangling the sciatic nerve.  After spending the morning doing multiple stretch exercises, we walked to Boss Hogg’s for a salad bar lunch.  At 6:09 PM, Cynthia walked the halls and believes healing is forthcoming, thank God.

18 Jul:  After another good night of sleep, we awakened early, exercised, ate our usual oatmeal (with black walnuts today), and started thinking about walking.  Ron turned on the TV as auxiliary computer screen and started more edits on Volume 1.  Mid-afternoon he walked comfortably to the boat ramp and back at 80 degrees, enjoying the sights of rich blue skies and stacks of fluffy white clouds.  Thank God and Dr. Beim for this improved vision.  We did a second small walk at 7:15, but Cynthia's piriformis syndrome told her to stop early.  Editing Volume 1 continued into the evening.

17 Jul:  What a fabulous night of solid sleep!  Cynthia is reading and responding to volumes of birthday messages while Ron is doing Sudokus.  We walked around the subdivision and saw perhaps the same two bucks that Ron saw yesterday.  Liza, the waitress at Boss Hogg's, was delighted to see us today when we went to get our accustomed salads.  She remembered our names, and Ron eventually remembered hers.  She showed pictures of her son who just graduated high school and received his Eagle Scout award in scouting.  Ron then walked to Walmart for rolled oats, blueberries and raspberries; round trip is just under three miles.  The index in Volume II is missing quite a few names, so Ron is going to add those missing names to the concordance and rerun the index.  Cynthia will be biting her nails at the delay.  Instead, editing Volume 1 took over Ron's evening, and he removed many of the RSB notes and fixed P## page number references.  It is sobering to realize how many of these references there are.
16 Jul:  We awakened in the wee hours and got ready to ride quickly!  Temperatures were quite cool as we rode in the early morning through Española to our breakfast stop at the Abiquiu Inn (click here).  Breakfast was lovely in a spacious, open-air, pastoral setting, surrounded by a marvelous sculpture garden.  For dessert, Ron ordered vanilla ice cream with caramel topping to celebrate Cynthia’s big birthday (she turned 18 again).  Ron was somewhat overawed to see so much detail in the rugged scenery as we rode on old US 84 the entire way past Ghost Ranch and Echo Canyon to Pagosa Springs.  We checked in to the West End Lodge (click here) at noon and promptly fell asleep for the afternoon.  Then we walked to Boss Hoggs for the salad bar, and Ron saw two bucks browsing behind the food pantry (click here) before he rode to Walmart for groceries.  Birthday messages fill Cynthia's text and phone.  Replies will have to wait for tomorrow.  We remembered Ron's pacemaker reading last thing before going to sleep and had problems but got it done.

15 Jul:  Motorcycle service is to be done by noon, but to avoid riding in the afternoon heat, we will stay one more night in Santa Fe.  No plans yet for Tuesday afternoon.  Lovely Nina gave Ron a ride from the Comfort Inn to the motorcycle shop at 4 pm to retrieve his steed but declined the invitation to dinner.  We met Mark and Vangie for a lovely dinner at El Rancho after we discovered that Harry's Roadhouse is closed Tuesdays.

14 Jul:  Cynthia's hearing test at 11:30 showed a ten percent decline in hearing, age related.  Not good news.  Ron dropped off the BMW at OCD Motorcycles for its 30,000 mile service.  We spent the afternoon at the Georgia O'Keefe Museum after taking the bus to downtown.  We rode with John & Linda to Harry's Roadhouse for dinner, and they were considerate enough to drop us off at our hotel afterwards.

13 Jul, Sunday:  We had a wonderful day by spending a couple of hours with Tony in the afternoon.  For old times sake, we took four flavors of ice cream since daughter Liz remembers me as the ice cream man.  Unfortunately, her daughter Senna was working and missed the celebration.  Tony looks good and is very much enjoying his boxing therapy.  Then we spent another couple of hours with Lupe, who was quite delighted to see us. And finally we waited for twenty minutes to be seated at Harry's Roadhouse, where we enjoyed a lovely dinner conversation with Mike and Maria, returning home to the hotel minutes before dark.

12 Jul:  Today is a Wonderful DAY!  We slept!  We are doing Nothing, except that Ron did go to spend two hours in the afternoon playing a game of GO (click here) with Stuart and another hour with John and Linda before returning.  Ron also stopped at Tony's house and next door to find his daughter who says she has trouble getting in touch with him also.  The Smooches then went to dinner with Nina after riding on I-25 through frighteningly strong thunderstorm winds to Harry's Roadhouse.  Riding back just after sunset was astounding with red sunshine highlighting multiple layers of clouds and one bank had a pearlescent glow.

11 Jul:  Rich and Carol joined us for breakfast at the hotel.  Sadly, this Hampton Inn's breakfast was sub-par, but we all thoroughly enjoyed our conversation.  Rich has a host of great stories.  We then packed and headed back to Santa Fe on the High Road to Taos (NM routes 518, 75, 76, past Santuario de Chimayo (click here), 503).   Right at sunset (8:15) Ron rode to Walmart and witnessed an incredible red and orange sunset.

10 Jul:  We rode up to Taos through Española and via NM highway 68 to the Hampton Inn south of town, which placed us within five miles of our dinner invitation with Rich and Carol, Cynthia's cousins.  Their two grandsons joined us and were wonderfully well behaved.  Rich is quite a talented chef and made mashed potatoes without using milk.  The meal was really, really good.

9 Jul:  We visited Stewart and Judy, who took us to lunch at Vinaigrette (click here).  Then, afternoon, we spent a couple of hours with John & Linda, just returned from a camping trip in the Pecos.  Mark had invited us to dinner, which was fabulous, as always, and surprised us by also inviting Charlie and Sam.  Vangie showed up a bit later and was a welcome addition.  What a delightful time we all had reminiscing.

8 Jul:  Nina joined us for dinner, also at Vinaigrette.  Cynthia is trying to find a gallery to do an exhibition for Nina.

7 Jul:  Medical:  Cynthia’s right hearing aid was quickly repaired (for free!!) at Sandia Hearing; she is scheduled for a tuneup test on 14 July.  We checked out of the Hyatt at one PM and removed to the adjacent Comfort Inn.  Ron is working on James Lea.  We enjoyed lunch and conversation with Janie at Piazza Caffè, which was VERY expensive, and dinner and conversation with Michael and Claire at Vinaigrette.  Janie's paintings look very, very good, but she reports disappointing sales at the flea market.

6 Jul, Sunday:  Since the forecast was for a cool day today, we slept until 5:30 before arising, breakfasting, and packing.  Hence, we didn't begin our four-hour ride from Clovis, New Mexico (click here) to the Hyatt Hotel in Santa Fe, NM until 8:30 am and were again cool until we stopped in Vaughn for gasoline and to remove a layer of clothing.  The ride was quite pleasant and unremarkable although we did see a pronghorn.  Disturbing storm clouds massed on the horizon beyond the Santa Fe mountains.  The bike speedometer read 72 and the GPS measured 68 mph when a NM State Cop passed us in a 65 MPH zone.  Imagine Ron's wonder at riding from Brenham, TX to Santa Fe, NM in July and being too cool most of the way and too hot only from Montgomery to Brenham.  And now it is 3:30 pm in Santa Fe, and a thunderstorm just wetted everything.  As soon as the roads dried off, Ron rode to Walmart for blueberries, raspberries, and bananas.  The three people who answered their phones are all busy this afternoon, so Ron is freed to work on James Lea, after hooking his computer up to the HDMI port on the huge TV.  Route: US 60 W to Encino, NM, R on US 285 N to Santa Fe, Rodeo Road to Cerrillos Road and the Hyatt Place.

5 Jul:  Delicious.  Yes, it felt delicious to sleep from nine PM last night until after six, maybe seven, this morning.  The Hampton Inn serves homemade hot oatmeal in real dishes.  Ron bought blueberries, raspberries and bananas last night.  We walked 2.71 miles this AM, not a lot, but walking on concrete is not great.  Ron set up the jumbo TV screen as a computer monitor to work on James Lea today.  He has made great progress.  Cynthia edited the galley proof for Sunday Offerings Meditations Book as well as the cover design, now submitted to the publisher.  Yaay! We walked to Denny’s for dinner.  And here it is only 8:15 and light is already fading.  Our total mileage today is 4.27 miles

4 Jul:  Happy Independence Day!  We left Snyder, Texas at 7:00 AM en route to Clovis, New Mexico.  It was a surprise to see how late light appears in the mornings this far NW near the time zone change.  We were delighted and surprised by fog that kept temperatures cool, although anxious about potential rain.  That fog lasted late into the morning and was so low hanging that the blades of the giant windmills disappeared for half of their revolution.  Skies were still overcast as we watched a single-wing airplane come right towards us, following the highway.  Rain spit at us from time to time, and blue skies and sunshine appeared only briefly.  It was beyond strange to be cold riding in Texas in July.  Because we haven't traveled this NW route we were amazed by so much green.  Maybe they had a lot of rain?  We saw a lot of crop irrigation in NW Texas and of course oil well pumps and smells.  Why were we surprised it takes four days to get out of SE Texas?  Clovis, NM is very nice compared to many New Mexico towns.  Ron put Denny’s into the GPS so we had an immediate and delicious destination upon our arrival and treated ourselves to spinach, fruit and nonfat yogurt smoothies.  Ron ate grilled salmon on a large salad, and Cynthia tried an egg "Slam".  We checked into a lovely Hampton Inn, not surprised that we are totally exhausted.  We opted to spend a second night and sleep late once.  Route: US 84 N to Clovis, NM.

3 July: Yikes!  We arose before the crack of Dawn, 4:30 AM, and had exercised, eaten, packed, and checked the weather several times before rolling onto the road by 6:10 AM, avoiding downpours forecast soon, and were elated to catch only a few light rain moments.  About 11:30, the rain was increasing at Snyder, Texas when Ron found a nice Comfort Inn.  We slept all afternoon.  Cynthia corrected her galley proof, and Ron worked on James Lea before going after fresh fruit for the morning.  Route: TX 36 N through Rising Star and Cross Plains to Spur 322 N to I-20 bypassing Abilene to Sweetwater and US 84 N to Snyder.  We did get drenched for five minutes as we bypassed Abilene on I-20 and again as we approached Sweetwater.  Cynthia had her rain gear on, so we didn't get very wet.

2 July:  Departure Brenham @7:00 AM with lunch stop about 10:30 AM at a very good steak place in Gatesville.  Being short on sleep and full, Ron started getting sleepy soon, so we stopped at Comanche, Texas at 12:30 high noon at a nice and convenient Best Western hotel.  We slept for two hours.  Then it rained until late afternoon, when Ron rode to a market for bananas, raspberries, and blueberries.  We travel with oatmeal to avoid the salt in oatmeal packets.  Route: US 290 bypass to TX 36 N.
1 July:  We needed sleep more than we needed to leave on the ride Sw at 6:30 AM.  It is eight AM, and we hope to be ready to ride before the temperature reaches 90 degrees.  It will be a very short ride today.  We absolutely must traverse the 60 miles from Walden to Brenham via TX 105 to pig out again at the Blue Bell Creamery (click here) (11 scoops), and we were lucky that Sue Ellen and the twins were working.  Then we repaired to the Comfort Inn and slept a couple of hours in the afternoon and again all night.

So Wynn, we are happy that your cancer episode turned out to be only a scare, and we continue to add our routes so that you can follow us on your maps.  Tomorrow, the 2nd, we will ride from the Comfort Inn in Brenham to the nearby Chevron gas station, get on US 290 bypassing downtown to TX 36 north and west towards Abilene, planning to stop when the temperatures get too burdensome (it was 92 degrees at noon today).  If we get to Abilene, I plan to bypass it on Loop 322 north or east to I-20 for a few miles to US 83 N for several miles to US 180 W for a while to US 84 N that heads towards Lubbock, TX.  Now you know our plans for the next day or two.

Eye do See much better in June! Many Thanks to Dr. beim

 We are in Texas until after the second cataract surgery June 11.

awaiting Mosquito Blood Draw

30 Jun:  MEDICAL We need sleep!  Walking happened early, we are both fed, showered, and somewhat organized.  Ron is taking a very needed nap.  At 12:45 we ship a box to Pagosa Springs, drop off two boxes at the storage unit, drop off plastic bags for recycling at HEB, visit Cynthia's PERIODONTIST, and get air in the motorcycle tires at Walmart.  Finish cleaning and packing. 

29 Jun:  The Breakwater is 1.4 miles roundtrip.  And we are crazy busy.  4.37 total miles.

28 Jun:  The humid Texas air is hard to breathe, but we did do manage to get a few gulps of air on our morning Breakwater walk.  Ron is off on the big walk to the lake that Cynthia is skipping to allow a muscle to heal.  Today and tomorrow we will continue packing and cleaning.  Cynthia is pleased the contracts are signed with the publisher; one manuscript is submitted.  The other three will likely get submitted mid July when we get to Pagosa Springs.  3.36 miles.  We learned the name of a friend, Tom, we've seen regularly for the last five years as he runs.  Cynthia even raced him once.

27 Jun:  Medical: RX 10 miles; Ron packed the trunk with a trillion pieces of recycling, picked up Cynthia’s sweater at Loop Cleaners, her earrings at Jeff’s, dropped off recycling plastic bags at Target and then to the Recycling Center only to discover they closed early today.  Bummer…  65 miles round trip.  Jon will take the recycling for us.   Our walking miles are 5.62 for the two of us, plus Ron had another 4.5 miles.  The sunset was magnificent, the duckies are growing, and the fishermen are casting their nets.  

26 Jun:  MEDICAL Ron will drive to the ophthalmologist in Brenham; we both have appointments. (120 Miles)  We plan to leave early in order to pig out first at the Blue Bell Creamery.  I wonder what flavors they will serve us this time.  Oh Boy, Oh Boy.

25 Jun:  HMMM!  We lost two days of posting because we are so busy preparing to leave July first.  Ron is doing an amazing job getting five months of recycling ready for recycling on Friday.  Cynthia had a haircut at two.  MEDICAL Pick up RX.  Walk 3.95 Miles.  We do continue to walk every morning; Cynthia walks with Ron to the breakwater and back for a mile, then Ron walks solo sweating to the lake and back, 4 miles.  Immediately upon return, he takes a shower, so he is amazingly more clean than usual.

24 Jun:  4.42 miles.  Our big job was moving boxes back to the storage unit.

23 Jun:  4.26 miles.  We worked, we walked.

22 Jun:  We are very boring when we are not traveling.  It is too hot to be energetic and excited.  Cynthia has book covers created.  The meditation manuscript is off to the publisher on Tuesday.  The Lea manuscript will be submitted this week.  Yaay.  Ron “housecleaned” meaning he worked on recycling and compost.  He successfully walked to the lake plus walked the breakwater twice with Cynthia.  Her mileage is 3.32 so Ron’s must be ten.

21 Jun:  Ron is elated at all he can see. Yay!  Cynthia is doing equally fine today.  But, she won’t walk until tonight.  Our A/C is frozen and had to be shut off except for the fan.  It is very warm in the condo.  3.0 miles

20 June:  She shouldn’t have ‘did’ it!  Meaning, walking 5.10 miles even though surgery was minor, in the heat it is not good.  Plus, it aggravated glutes and icing was needed today.

19 Jun:  We did it!  After a glorious, long sleep, we were up early and on the trail by eight AM, but the humidity is enervating, making it difficult to breathe.  We are focused on getting everything ready to leave in ten days.  Yikes!  A second walk tonight was cooler, we beat the forecasted rain, and enjoyed a marvelous sunset.  4.38 miles.

18 Jun:  Ron walked early, but he was feeling enervated due to the heat. Today’s project is entering receipts into spreadsheets.  Cynthia’s meditation manuscript is ready for the publisher, including the cover design and three endorsements.  We walked two miles on the breakwater.   Six days ahead without any appointments.  Yahoo.  We can walk very early twice a day.  Yaay.

17 Jun:  MEDICAL.  Ron walked early, Cynthia did not.  The heat is overwhelming.  We left for the ophthalmologist in Brenham at 11:30, arriving just in time for Ron to stop at Blue Bell Creamery for three delicious scoops.  Ron’s Dr said Ron’s cataract surgery turned out better than his own surgery.  Ron told him it was because he has the best doctor.  Ron is delighted he can now read the road signs, except for speed signs; he got a ticket.  Cynthia had very minor surgery in the doctor’s office to remove excess upper eyelid skin for AMD using a local anesthesia.  Everything is fine.

16 Jun:  Monday, Cynthia loved sleeping in today!  The hip seems healed.  After lunch, she ran errands.  She has two meditations to complete before the manuscript goes to the publisher.  3 miles

15 Jun, Sunday:  Cynthia announced at the church fellowship that this would be her last Sunday at Grace this year because her eyelids will be stitched and her eyes black & blue next Sunday after her surgery.  Ron likes it when his sweetie acquires new colorful appendages.  After church we discovered that Oscar's is closed on Father's Day and the Magnolia Diner had a line filling the foyer, so we repaired to our condo, where we discovered that a thunderstorm was about to begin.  Ron spent a couple of hours in bed, resting and napping before arising to begin work cleaning the kitchen just before bedtime.  Thank God for Cynthia.

14 Jun:  The area Internet is down, likely due to heavy thunderstorm last night.  We awoke at 7:30 after a fabulous long sleep.  Cynthia has a pulled glute muscle; she is icing, resting, and she is organizing a box to go to the storage unit, one to ship to Pagosa Springs, plus the contents of her saddlebag while icing the hip.  Ron walked to the lake, sat down on the exterior patio to do Sudoku's.  We found the Army anniversary parade on PBS and thoroughly enjoyed watching it.  After icing and doing exercises my gluteus strain is improved.  Good night.

13 Jun:  The blogpost inner workings are pretty abysmal since Google sold it.  Ron is resuming eyedrops, two different eyedrops, five minutes apart, four times a day for two weeks.  We ran errands and stopped at The Oscar’s for lunch, then Walmart, and just made it to our parking spot before a severe thunderstorm kept us in the car for quite awhile.

12 Jun:  MEDICAL:  Ron had a very successful second EYE surgery.  As we left town, Cynthia chose to drive right by the Blue Bell Creamery, so we had to stop and celebrate.  Cynthia had Cherry Jubilee, Strawberry Cheesecake, and Cherry Jubilee again.  Ron chose Fancy Tracks, Mocha Almond Fudge, Cookies and Cream, and Mango.  The most wonderful hostess, Sue Ellen, entertained us for half an hour by listening to Ron's multitude of ice cream stories.  She is such a dear, wonderful lady that we felt quite privileged and Cynthia is inspired to write a Sunday offering dedicated to her.  We picked up an RX from Lakeside Pharmacy and arrived home worn out.  Ron napped.  We walked at 6:35 for 4.87 miles.

11 Jun:  MEDICAL:  Dr. Beim got to work around 11:30 at the Bellville, TX hospital to remove the cataract from Ron's right eye.  He was very pleased with his work keeping the lens correcting for astigmatism in place while removing the Malyugin ring used to hold the pupil open wide during the operation.  We thoroughly enjoyed lunch with Samantha and Rush afterwards at the Gathery.  We stopped at the doctor's office to have the eye protector into place better and headed for Blue Bell Creamery where Ron limited himself to a mere six servings of different flavors, Fancy Tracks, Mocha Almond Fudge, Cookies and Cream, Strawberry Cheesecake, Chocolate Chip, and Coconut.  Cynthia ate 2.5 scoops, gave Ron half of her Mocha Almond Fudge, and now we are comatose.

10 Jun:  MEDICAL, Up at five AM, exercised, oatmealed and ready to walk.  We drove to Brenham for an appointment with Dr. Beim and overnight at a hotel for two nights.  Ron is working on Vol II.  No  ice cream and we miss walking!

9 Jun:  This is the week of EYE II surgery!  Up and rolling at six AM but, rain is forecast until nine AM.  The rain stopped.  Cynthia started fitness routine week #16. 5.89 miles

8 Jun, Sunday:  Worship at ten AM.  We slept in to six AM.  Volume 2 is proceeding nicely although validating source citations is time consuming and tedious.  We walked the breakwater at 7:30 PM.

7 Jun:  Yes, awakening at five AM is the new normal.  We walked out the door into a steam bath at 7:30 AM, but valiantly conquered the overwhelming desire to get back into A/C.  Steam is rising from the lake where we stopped for the morning mosquito blood draw.  Next, was the fitness center stop on our way back home so we could do our exercises.  For the first time since cataract surgery, Ron used the machines.  Cynthia completed week #15 with15 reps X3 on each machine, plus increased heavier weights.  Ron pulled Vol II together and is completing the intro pages.  Cynthia wrote one more meditation.  We are two worn out puppies.  5.74 miles 

6 Jun:  We awoke at five AM again.  Is this the new normal?  We slowly/sorta bounced out of bed after exercises, and we were HOT on the walking trail by 8:00 and home by 9:30, wet with sweat.  Cynthia has four meditations left to write, now.  Because writing involves spiritual inspiration she awaits the nudge.  Ron started dozing on the balcony and decided to get the job done by going to bed for two hours. That is the way the day played out, so we had the dry, flat, leftover champagne from 12 May with half a glass each before finishing the day with a walk on the Breakwater in 85 degree wind and heat.  5.43 miles  FYI: A fitness expert at Lifetime in New York City provided the below targets for how long you should be able to hold a plank by age.

• 20s: 1 to 2 minutes
• 30s: 1 to 2 minutes
• 40s: 1 minute or longer
• 50s: 30 to 60 seconds
• 60s and above: 20 to 30 seconds

5 Jun:  Medical: RX Pickup at Walmart.  Progress has been made on several fronts.  James Lea Vol I and II: Ron has completed changing nearly all images to 200 PPI in Vol I, and now he has started pulling Vol II together.  Fitness: Cynthia broke our condo’s global/universal/international record holding a plank for TWO MINUTES!  We walked in 91% humidity.  Cynthia did upper body workout at the fitness center, and we moved the first of many loads back to the storage unit before having lunch with Samantha and her boys.  The evening walk on the Breakwater was lovely.  A fellow walker said, “Two young lovers always strolling the streets.”  6.95 miles.

4 Jun: MEDICAL Another early morning drive to Brenham to see the ophthalmologist for Ron’s three week surgery follow up.  Cynthia had an eye exam and she was very surprised that the RX was the same as four years ago.  We stopped at Magnolia Diner for egg white veggie omelets.  Our walk tonight totaled 4.31 miles.  We are exhausted.  Good night.

3 Jun:  We nearly solved the heat problem by arising at five AM and walking by seven; except in Texas, seven is already steamy hot.  But, we finished a 4.5 mile jaunt, including Cynthia’s fitness workout (week #15/18) and we were home by 9:25. 6.55 miles

2 Jun:  We did more of the same stuff.  Cynthia wrote a meditation.  Ten to go  

1 Jun, Sunday:  We exercised, oatmealed, worshipped at Grace, ate flounder at The Oscar’s, and napped this afternoon.  Ron completed the appendices in Vol. II, and corrected an error in Vol. I.  Vol. II needs to be indexed and page numbers added to Vol. I.  Vol. III is complete, but it needs formatting.  Cynthia successfully organized the meditations manuscript and discovered she needs to write eleven more meditations before it is to sent to the publisher.  Typing with one finger is a challenge.  Ron walked to the lake.

MAY, EYE see Better

We remain in Texas while awaiting Ron's second cataract surgery on June 11.

Ron, Cynthia, Jon and photo of flowers

31 May: Here we are at the end of May, with Ron having one eye seeing astoundingly well, and looking forward to incredible vision following cataract surgery #2 on 11 June.  Cynthia completed 14/18 weeks of upper body fitness reaching 15 reps and increased machine weights per machine and free weights.  It is mid morning, and we are exercised, oatmealed, and decided to walk in the humidity now rather than waiting until tonight.  6.45 miles! Hurrah to #14/18!

30 May:  (MEDICAL) Here we are running out of May space on a rainy can’t walk day.  I guess we will just have to work on James Lea! Hmmm! Ron thought the rain should stop, and just like that, it did!  We were out the door by 8:45 AM.  In the afternoon, we dropped off the baptismal gown to be embroidered, stopped at the bank, picked up RX, and we shopped at Walmart.  Ron finished one more appendix. The lovely day was completed by an evening walk along the lakeshore.  6.0 miles

29 May:  4:21 AM, wide-awake because we went to bed so early!  Ron said, “Let’s get up and get our walk done before it is too hot.”  At 6:24, we were exercised, oatmealed, and on the trail.  Despite a balmy temperature of 71 degrees, it was humid; Cynthia worked out at the fitness center, and we fell asleep upon our return home.  After an afternoon working on James Lea, we walked the Breakwater.  6.06 miles week #14/18.

28 May:  Ron enjoyed sleeping after no-sleep in the hospital; he ate breakfast for lunch.  Cynthia was awake at 5:30 AM to get ready for the trip to see Corrie and family, taking along banana/oatmeal cookies, waffle cones and chocolate ice cream to celebrate summer birthdays!  A fun time was had by all of the survivors.  Cynthia was very thankful to have survived the drive in heavy rain, and very grateful it was dry returning home safely.  That was her last driving trip to Bryan unless she changes to a Tesla self-driving car in a couple of years.  We walked to the lake, and Cynthia started week #14 of 18 in the fitness center with 15 reps each exercise.  She is now totally exhausted with plans to go to sleep after our second walk.  We enjoyed a Gorgeous sunset on our breakwater walk.  6.0 miles.

27 May:  MEDICAL  Ron was discharged this AM after an echocardiogram ordered by the cardiologist.  We don’t know why his pain in the back has returned; it might be a pinched nerve.  We are home and exhausted.  Ron still decided to walk to the lake and back to try to exercise off some of the ice cream he ate to celebrate so many years of ice cream abstinence.  Now that he has splurged well, he begins the next multiple years of abstinence.

26 May: MEDICAL. Cynthia asked Ron if we should try going for our walk despite the forecast of rain.  Ron said, “I want to go to ER! Whaaat?  Ron was having a pain above his waist on the right side for a week.  We quickly went to ER at Woodlands Methodist 35 miles away.  He will have more tests.  Ron was admitted after the Dr saw an abnormal EKG.  He appears to be fine, he is cheery, as normal.  Cynthia abandoned Ron and fled home with her son Jon who happened to be nearby when she texted him her predicament of needing a ride home to the condo as darkness and rainstorms approached, especially since the ER nurse reported it to be unlikely that the hospital would have a room for Ron.  And, although the hospital did find a room for Ron about the time Cynthia arrived back at the condo, he still didn't sleep much if any.  And it is Memorial day, not a day to commemorate steaks and hotdogs and beer and chips. It is not the day to raise our glasses to our gluttony. Monday is the day we say a prayer and remember all those who gave their lives for the American republic. A republic, said Dr. Benjamin Franklin, if you can keep it.

Can we keep it?

That’s up to you. But they died trying to keep it. In all the cemeteries of American war dead across the world, among the white markers and crosses across the landscape, row after row here, in France, everywhere, it is held in a language unspoken by the political class, but perhaps you can feel it all the same:

Author, John Kass Podcast,  published Sunday, 25 May 2025

25 May, Sunday:  Hmmm!  Did the rest of the world know tomorrow is Memorial Day?  We thought we had a week left!  Worship was great this AM.  We had brunch at “The Oscars.” The 93 degree heat prevented an afternoon walk.  Instead, we worked on projects. (Hi Barb W) Ron has completed the appendices (Volume II) apart from adding some source citations and page numbers.  Volume I needs PPI changes on appendices in the book, plus repagination.  Each step seems monumental.  Our walk tonight was only 2.5 Miles.

24 May: Goodness, but it is humid on our early morning walk! Cynthia completed week #13/18 doing upper body workout at the fitness center.  We spent the afternoon on our projects.  Ron has headphones on listening to music with a perpetual smile while he is working on anything but James Lea.  While he is reformatting the appendices to 200 PPI, the smile fades.  We walked the breakwater at sunset tonight enjoying the Momma Mallard ducks with their babies, live music at the grill, with hundreds of folks gathered to listen and eat.  6.6 miles.

Hi Cynthia, I don't recognize this view over the breakwater.

23 May: Our new normal is getting up in the dark so we can do our exercises, eat and walk early, like 8:45 AM with hot steam rising off the lake and pouring down our faces.  Yes, it is hot and humid. Welcome to Texas.  Ron is organizing materials to go into a box.  Cynthia is organizing the meditations to be sent to the publisher.  She discovered a shortage of ten meditations; it will be a small book with 52 meditations titled Sunday Offering.  Perhaps there are more to be discovered on Facebook.  We walked the Breakwater after the thunderstorm stopped.  The colors were magnificent, emerald green grass with a Cerulean blue sky melting into the lake water and brilliant yellow sun sinking into the horizon.  5.84 total miles.

22 May: We walked at 9:30, but it was hot and humid returning home. Cynthia is in the 13th week of upper  body workouts.  Last night, Ron did not sleep well.  He is napping this afternoon while carpenters are pounding away outside.  Ron is revisiting the appendices, making certain all of the source citations are done and all of the images are @200 DPI.  Cynthia cleaned the condo and Ron vacuumed.  We walked a total 6.52 Miles.

21 May:  MEDICAL We drove to Brenham for a follow-up on Ron's eye.  Cynthia was once again willing to ride passenger while Ron drove "home."  We stopped at Cypress Methodist Hospital to see Julie who has severe pancreatitis.      

20 May:   5.99 Miles 

19 May: MEDICAL  We got up early and were prepared to walk as we came into the open and discovered too much wind that might blow dust or dirt into Ron's eye.  Dr. Beim forbade Ron from getting anything into the eye, and the renewed eyesight is so very precious that Ron actually exercised good judgement and turned back into the condo.  About noon, Cynthia drove to her dental follow up.  Then we ate until too much overfull at Jason's Deli, shopped at ALDI, shopped at Walmart, and returned to condo in time for Bill O'Reilly, our "date night" entertainment.  Ron mailed three checks and postcards, leaving only two more items to mail soon.

18 May, Sunday:  We got to church during the pastor's announcements, so by Ron's definition, we were on time.  We enjoyed fellowship conversation afterwards, but none of the snacks met our dietary restrictions.  Elaine is using a walker today.  She thought she didn't need to do physical therapy once she was discharged.  Ron told her in no uncertain terms that physical therapy is for the rest of your life, and with luck and the grace of God, it will be a long, active life.

17 May:  Ron was appreciated as the token male at the DAR meeting in Chappell Hill this morning.  Cynthia has been absent for eighteen years, but some ladies remembered her or had heard her name.  At show and tell time, she reported her seven patriots and how Lawrence Bankston was miraculously reinstated.  The salmon salad at Bevers Kitchen was delicious and the company invigorating.  After Wednesday, Cynthia is giving up her car keys apart from driving a short distances.

16 May:  MEDICAL.  Ron walked this morning while Cynthia went to an appointment with Dr Sharpless; afterwards, she luxuriated with a manicure and pedicure.  She was busy: picked up the dry cleaning, bought more bananas to make oatmeal cookies, filled a RX at Lakeside Pharmacy, and managed to fill the car with gas at the very inconvenient Chevron gas station where she survived crossing three lanes of traffic to exit to the north.  Home now, but, Shhh! Ron is napping.  Ron aged 50 years once he looked into the mirror with improved eyesight and saw all his wrinkles and age lines for the first time.  Cynthia told him he looks like a hunky Secret Service agent with the dark glasses.  We are exhausted. 

15 May:  MEDICAL  At 8 AM, Dr. Beim removed the packaging, and Ron was amazed at how well he can now read fine print.  That noxious double vision is entirely gone from the left eye.  As we drove back to the Comfort Inn, the amazement grew as he now reads road signs, street signs, billboards and names of businesses along the road, none of which were previously decipherable.  We ate breakfast, packed our gear, and Cynthia insisted on driving back to the condo despite Ron's offer to leave the driving to me.  Compounding his amazement, he can now read the computer screen without first enlarging the print 20x.  He is literally flabbergasted and overawed.  It is nothing short of an absolute miracle.  (Cynthia is encouraging Ron to rest!)  We walked to the fitness center, and Cynthia did her upper body workout for week #12/17.

Ron dressed in pre-op finery

14 May:  MEDICAL.  We drove from the Comfort Inn to the Bellville hospital, arriving at 8:30 AM.  Checking in at a smaller hospital is so much more pleasant than the huge hospitals in Houston.  The surgery was perfect.  We had lunch at the Gathery (click here) in Bellville with Samantha L. and her son Cross, drove back to Brenham and took a short walk to HEB for another ice cream celebration, three pints of Blue Bell.

13 May:  MEDICAL.  We are exercised, oatmealed, walked, and showered before we drove to Brenham, TX to stay at the Comfort Inn for two nights.  Ron's cataract surgery #1 is at 9 AM tomorrow morning.  Cynthia began her fitness workout week #12 of 17.  Ron decided that a stop at Blue Bell Creamery, the ice cream capital of the world, was a fitting birthday gift.  We sampled seven different flavors.  Blueberry Cobbler was Ron's favorite; butter pecan was Cynthia's.  5.14 miles

Carb loading pre-op

12 May:  Hurray, hurray for the 12th of May, our 14th wedding anniversary, and Ron’s 78th birthday!  (He can't even count that high any longer.)  We celebrated with champagne!  (Spellcheck tried three times to change the spelling to campaign.)  Ron started straightening his messes so that he won't have to bend over while his eyes are healing.  One goal was to get a few of the heavier boxes stashed into the storage locker.  The other goal is to get several postcards and checks written and mailed.  6.47 miles

Ron, Cynthia, Jon and photo of flowers

11 May, Sunday, Mother’s Day:  We enjoyed a great sermon by the interim pastor at worship.  Jon liked the new pastor, and we enjoyed lunch with Jon at Oscar's afterwards.  We got home from church and napped for a bit in the afternoon.  Ron is trying to get recycling reorganized in the spare bedroom so that he can move heavier boxes into the storage locker before his surgeries.

Cynthia & flowers from her children

10 May:  Mobile windshield repair arrived by nine-fifteen to repair a chip in the car’s windshield.  Son Jon arrived soon after with a beautiful bouquet of flowers from all of Cynthia’s children.  Cynthia is one happy girlie.  Ron worked on the appendices.  Two walks.  Cynthia added  a daily plank one minute long.  She finished her 11th week of strength training at the fitness center; her goal is 17 consecutive weeks of strength training workouts.  7.46 miles

9 May: MEDICAL RX Our AM walk was completed by 11:30 AM and we were off to Lakeside Pharmacy, Walgreen’s, Storage Unit, Dr Sharpless, the Dry Cleaners, and Oscar’s for salmon and vegetables for lunch.  Ron noticed a little chip in the windshield; a mobile repairman will arrive about nine in the AM to repair it.  7 miles.

8 May:  The packing process begins six weeks ahead of departure because Ron has to move heavy boxes back into the storage unit before next Tuesday when we go to Brenham for surgery on Wednesday.  We will overnight Tues and Wednesday, returning Thursday.  We successfully completed two walks, closed all of the rings on the Apple Watch.  7.13 miles, plus 11th week fitness workout #2.  yaay!  We will rattle our tambourines, play the drum loudly, and sing a new song.

7 May:  MEDICAL.  As retirees, we object to arising at 5:15am, but today we had to drive to Brenham for Ron’s ophthalmologist appointment.  Poor Cynthia has to drive since she refuses to ride on the motorcycle with Ron because he cannot read road signs.  Everything is all set for the first surgery on May 14th, two days after his 78th birthday.  Wish us luck.   James Lea must be set aside until next week.  We must move the heaviest boxes to the storage unit. 4.55 miles. 

6 May:  A rainy day is forecast, but we walked to the lake, sat on the bench, smooched, and returned home without a sprinkle.  After Ron ate breakfast, we drove back to the fitness center for Cynthia’s workout week #11 of 17.  Yaaaay!  4.8 miles.  We shopped at WallyWorld and made it home before getting wet.  Heavy rain started about five PM.  Ron finished compiling Volume II although bit of editing remains.  Cynthia’s excitement builds for possible publication date for James Lea by our departure date of July first.

Baby Becks baptised by Grandmother

5 May:  Happy Cinco de Mayo!  The past few weeks have been exhausting with many trips to doctors, hospitals, baptism, and extensive driving.  Tonight, we will sleep early.  We are tired!  We did walk to the lake and back early before the rain started around 3 PM.  We attempted a second walk late, but the rain resumed, so we walked on all the floors and stairs of the condo building.  5.0 miles.  Great granddaughter Becks baptism was a week ago. 

4 May, Sunday: Worship was followed by lunch at The Oscar’s!  Pastor Mark gave a great sermon about the disciples being told to go tend the sheep.  Ron worked on his Mac; Cynthia emailed folks, and then they both rested.  The temperature has cooled slightly; it is time to walk. 4.76 miles

3 May:  We slept late! 6.18 miles plus ending week #10/17 workout at the fitness center.  The day is Glorious!  Yaaay! Ron worked on James Lea. CFB has a happy ❤️

2 May:  MEDICAL.  Another early to rise AM to meet Jon at 7:45 to take us to the Methodist Hospital in the Woodlands for Cynthia’s endoscopy.  Roxanne will pick us up at noon.  All is well indeed!  Cynthia’s endoscopy showed her stomach lining had a recent inflammation.  EVERYTHING LOOKS GOOD.  Of course, we didn't walk.  Now, we will sleep. 

1 May:  Connie and Chris stopped to say good bye as they head home to Iowa after wintering in Texas.  We are up, ready to hike, and Ron sees completion of James Lea, Vol. 1-3, in the very near future, God willing!  The appendices are Vol. II, and the DNA study is Vol. III.  We walked in the AM.  But when we attemmped to walk out the breakwater in the PM, threatening dark clouds and lightning inspired us to boogie back to our condo. 5.32 miles.  Hopefully, it will rain enough to wash the bike.