DOCTOR PHONED THIS MORNING WITH MY HIP X-RAY RESULTS:((

With all this rain upon us I think we are soon going to have to load up all our front yard animals two by two & ready our house for a turbulent voyage upon rain drenched stormy waters. No further chest pains for Kelly last night & no hip pain for me on our morning walk which we managed to take between rain showers. Water levels are rising in the pond & are now only inches away from Mama Goose's nest. We feel sad for the Goose family if the rain continues.

ABOUT 5 HOURS AFTER TAKING THIS PHOTO THE WATER WAS UP TO & TOUCHING THE NEST BUT MAMA GOOSE WAS SITTING TIGHT…AND THE RAIN HAD STOPPED

Did manage to get our outside water turned on a few days ago & washed both the Jeep & Sunseeker before our weather turned sour again. They were both still wearing their dusty Arizona coats plus road grime from our long journey home a few weeks ago. If ever we get some warm sunny days again I will clean up the interiors next. Only thing doable outside today was to take advantage of the milder temps in the morning & work away at cleaning up & re-organizing our 2 garden sheds & carport storage area. Seems like they are always in need of cleaning & re-organizing.

EVEN THESE YOUNG DAFFODILS WERE HAVING A HARD TIME OPENING IN THIS AFTERNOON’S COLD

My Doctor phoned late this morning with my hip X-ray results. She said the X-rays revealed a moderate to severe hip joint problem.  She explained why the pain is sporadic & what is likely causing that pain. A narrowing of the space between the ball joint & outer bone resulting in bone on bone & also a possible bone spur. We discussed options & both agreed it was time to consider some kind of hip surgery before deterioration escalates to a point where I can't get around anymore. The pain from here on in will only get more frequent with time.  I have been getting in the habit of carrying my cane around with me now because I never know when that socket will shift bringing me to an abrupt halt in my walking.  My Doctor/Nurse Practitioner is going to set me up with an appointment in London Ontario with a Doctor/Surgeon person to discuss my options. It will be that Surgeon’s decision as to what needs to be done. My Doctor also told me the waiting period for hip surgery is about 9 months. As great as our health program is here in Canada……………there definitely is a 'waiting time' problem:((

GOT DAD’S OLD HAT ON

Our day didn’t really consist of too much. Temperatures plummeted through the afternoon so we stayed in.  When I look back at my photos a year ago I see green leaves on shrubs & trees.  Flowers are up & some blooms are opening.  Birds are in the air & people are out bustling about in their yards.  This year it looks more like cold gray winter days without snow on the ground.  Not nice, not nice at all.  Pheebs & I haven’t even got out for a Jeep tour yet:((

 

MY CAMERA SET UP FOR BIRD & CRITTER PHOTOS IN OUR FRONT YARD

Kelly just did an amazing job in bringing our 7 year old totally crashed Toshiba lap top back to life.  It had crashed a month or so ago with the infamous blue screen of death & would not even boot up again.  Kelly does not have a computer background & had no knowledge of computers until we bought our first desk top back in the late 90’s.  We both started out knowing absolutely nothing about computers.  Only thing we had going for us was our high school typing skills.  We both kept up with things reasonably well until about 3 years ago when my short term memory began to stumble.  That led to a huge drop in my patience & my ability to problem solve & stick with things.  But not so Kelly.  Her knowledge & expertise with the computer just continued to grow.  Her patience & problem solving abilities are truly amazing & it’s easy for me to say that if it were not for her computer smarts I probably would have thrown my hands up in defeat a long time ago.  Using her newer Acer Netbook she went on-line researching information pertaining to our crashed Toshiba.  It took her a few days & I heard many sighs of frustration at the kitchen counter but by golly she did it.  She resurrected that old dead computer back to life.  I have never met anyone in my entire life with the patience & determination this Gal has.  What she gets accomplished in a single day can truly be amazing.  I think there are probably a lot of fellers out here like myself in the same boat.  If it were not for the smarts & caring ways of our Spouses many of us would be struggling & down for the count.  Took me 4 tries over the years to meet that one special person & by golly I sure got it right on that 4th try………….:))

 

PUFFED UP TRYING TO STAY WARM

I think in the back of every Blogger's mind is the question, 'When is enough, enough. When is it time to push away from the keyboard & turn off the computer? When is it time to re-evaluate one's interests & priorities. When is it time wrap up the Blog & be done with it.  I think of past fellow Bloggers Wandering Willy, Laurie, Chinle Miller,  Mke McFall, & others for example. They all reached a point where a decision was made to discontinue their blogs. They are all out there still traveling, RVing, camping & living their lives but at some point their priorities changed & they each decided to pack it in.

---
I am in that yearly time frame once again.  The one that besets me upon returning from the southwest each Spring. Been home nearly 2 weeks & I am once again asking myself, 'what the heck am I gonna write about now that will not only be interesting to me but to readers as well'.  For some reason the South-West just seems more inspirational for writing.  My first few blogging years were OK because my blogging was more of a part time effort. I would blog about our travels & then kind of pack it in for the summer only writing a few scattered posts here & there. By the time Spring rolled around in 2009 I decided to see if I could continue the blog through the Summer because I enjoyed writing. A struggle at first but I did manage to gather a few readers amazingly enough & with that new found confidence I somehow slipped into the routine of a daily Blogger. And it has been a daily routine I have enjoyed ever since. But, I do have my doubts at times & it's not unusual for me to think to myself, 'that's it, no more, it's time to end this blog & move on to other things.' First question that follows that thought is, 'Ok Al, what other things?? What other hobbies do I have going on right now that interest me as much as my traveling/photography/blogging hobby. I don't have an answer for that question simply because I don't really have anything else going on at this point which interests me or holds my attention as much as my blogging hobby does.  So, with my usual self doubts & moaning groaning complaints I will just keep on trying to come up with something remotely interesting to write about each night & something refreshingly interesting to photograph each day…………one post at a time:))

NOT ALL OUR FROGS ARE IN THE POND

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Two young men are speculating on how long they might live, and one says he thinks he has a long life ahead of him. "After all," he says, "my grandfather lived to be 96."
"Ninety-six? What finally got him?" the other man asks.
"Liquor and women."
"Well, that just goes to show you," snickers the friend, "both will get you in the end."
"Well actually, no, it's not what you think," says the first man. "Toward the end, Grandpa couldn't get either one, so he just laid down and died."

-------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.