To The Driver Happy Birthday

Thursday a.m.

Need to wish The Driver “Happy Birthday” today – (yes I know his real birthday is in October) but eight weeks ago today his heart was reborn. There has been so much improvement in the last week. Leaps and bounds compared to the first six weeks. Yesterday was the first day of cardiac rehab. Seemed to pep him up some. Thank Goodness. Seems like he is hungry all the time now, forever nibbling on something. Needs to get some of his weight and muscle tone back.
Got a reality check the other day – went to refill some of his prescriptions and found out the insurance won’t pay for them any more if we get them from the pharmacy downtown. But will pay for them via mail order. When I asked how much they would be from the pharmacy – I almost had a heart attack – just one of them would be well over $200 a month! Sure glad the doctor was back from vacation so he could fax them to the mail order. In the meantime had to cage some samples from his office. Did that while Driver was in rehab as they are both in the same building.
Also while he was there I went over to the YMCA – in same building around the corner – small town you know – and found out about a class that is the same time as his rehab. Think I’ll start going next week. But this is the part that gets me it is called Silver Sneakers. The lady at the desk told me it was in session and did I want to peek in the door to see what they do. Peeked in and it was FULL of OLD people!….Sitting in chairs…..Exercising? When did this happen to me? Well guess it is better then sitting in a chair at home doing nothing.
This was on line the other day. AARP listing 10 best towns to retire to. Columbus is the little town where we always go to breakfast and to Wal*Mart. Kind of interesting. We’ve had ice cream at Zaharakos.

Weather is still terrible – in for another stretch of high 90s with heat index up to 115! Humidity at about 88-89! Cannot not go outside after about 10 a.m. Just walking to our mailbox box end up soaking wet. This month of July is on tap to break lots of records - no rain less than 1/2 inch all month, days over 90 and days over 100 and days with heat index over 105. Aren't we lucky. Supposed to cool down a little over the weekend days (sure hope so for the NASCAR drivers here for the Brickyard race) then right back up again next week. The crows sit out back with their mouths open –panting I guess – and their wings spread to cool off. Even the cicadas shut up during the worst of the heat.
The turkeys were out back this morning – it’s funny – when I go out they take off – the mothers run into the woods but the little ones actually fly into the woods. Any one remember WKRP Cincinnati the TV show years ago? The episode about “turkeys can’t fly. It was so funny.
It’s been so hot lately and The Drivers appetite so up and down that we’ve taken to eating a lot of frozen foods – I know, I know - they are high in sodium. But when he decides he is hungry at 7:30 p.m. they are easy to fix. Not TV dinners but stuff like lasagna, orange chicken with rice etc. Some are pretty good and you get the whole meal. As time passes we’ll get back to regular meals and meal times. Luckily he never had high blood pressure, a weight problem, high cholesterol or any other health problem – so doc says right now – eat whatever you want.
Enough for now. Nothing else going on and I need to feed the fish before it gets too hot to go outside.

Things are so much better - Good days and Bambi moments

Monday p.m.

Lots of pretty good things happening the last few days.
First and foremost The Driver is feeling so much better! In the last five days he has started driving again, we’ve been into Columbus twice to go to breakfast and shopping, registered the jeep here in Indiana and taken the jeep into the mechanic for some much needed work. He also has been out in the garage in his “toy shop” puttering around a little. His appetite is back with a vengeance – every time I look at him he is eating something. Good thing too as he has lost 25 pounds. Rough diet - not recommended.
He is signed up for cardiac rehab starting Wednesday. He is not looking forward to it but I think it will do him a world of good. For over two months he has been very inactive.
Of course watched the US Women’s soccer world cup games. Kind of wonder about them losing to Japan. They had so many chances to make goals and just missed them. Even in the end – missing three out of four kicks…….Glad for Japan though. They needed good news.
Went out to the mail box the other day and saw this beautiful lily growing there. It was about 8 inches across.

Didn’t plant it – don’t know where it came from. A friend told me it is a “surprise lily” that they are common here in Indiana. They tend to just show up – so – surprise! A couple more that were surprises too - they are called katsup and mustard lillies cause of the colors.

The weather has been horrid here. Up in the high 90s with lots and lots of humidity. One night at 10 o’clock it still was a heat index of 104. They call it muggly – certainly is. The good news is yesterday for the first time this month we had rain. Lots and lots of thunder and lots of rain. Really needed it – the poor lawn was getting brown. TV says it was just ½ inch but it filled the pond back up so think we had more than that. We went out to sit on the porch and just enjoy the cool breeze and the sounds and it turned into kind of a “Bambi” moment. The doe and her little fawn came up to eat and so did the two hen turkeys and their six little ones. Soooo cute. And the hummingbirds and cardinals were out in force – they were enjoying the rain too.
While he’s been recuperating I’ve been doing some beading – finished this necklace.

It was fun to do. Haven't added it to the web page yet  http://www.beadedcustomdesigns.com/
Might make another one in different colors.
There is a new bead shop that just opened in our little town but the hours are really weird – only open Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sat from 3 in the afternoon to 11 at night. Haven’t been down to check it out yet – just too hot in the afternoon to go out.
This coming weekend is the NASCAR race at Indy. Also truck and nationwide races in the area. Hope the #18 has a good weekend. It’s going to be hot here again all weekend so I’ll just plunk myself down in front of the TV and enjoy – or not. Did you see the wreck Kasey Kane had a couple of days ago? Over the fence and out of the track. Wow! And he walked away from it.

Strolling Down the Lane One Day

Monday a.m.

Didn’t realize it’s been so long since I did an update. Almost two weeks.
First off a picture of The Driver taking a stroll in the driveway yesterday afternoon.

July 10th

It seems like we have maybe turned the corner – more “good times” than “bad.” Every day we see more improvement. Appetite is much better and he is up and about longer everyday. Still get awfully tired quickly though.
Finally made it to the cardiologist. Miserable trip as she was at her alternate office a long ways from here. She said he is doing fine, he can eat whatever he wants and he can start driving as soon as he feels like it. Hooray – It has been 5 ½ weeks now.
We are sweltering for a few days. In the mid to high 90s with lots and lots of humidity – heat index of up to 110. Went out and watered and trimmed the potted flowers this a.m. and was soaking wet when I came back in. Good day to stay inside and read. Have all the fans and air conditioners running full blast. Maybe this afternoon late we will get some rain – but think it will be north of us – darn.
Good NASCAR weekend for my favorite driver - #18 - won 2 and came in 3rd in another. Also won a late model race on Sunday in Wisconsin. 3 out of 4 not bad.