Eye Will See in June!

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

awaiting Mosquito Blood Draw

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 a better 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 eyes will be stitched and black & blue next Sunday after her eyelid 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 celebrated.  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.