MY HIP REPLACEMENT PHONE CALL CAME THIS MORNING AND MY DRUMMING IDEA IS A BUST

A beautiful big white fluffy cloud laced blue sky morning saw Pheebs and I out walking heartily along at our country road spot.  Most times when I get out of the Jeep there I right away look about and say, Hello Bush, Hello Bean Field, Hello Flowers, Hellow Grass, Hello Road, Hello Cornfield, Hello Sky, and this morning I had a big Hello for the Clouds as well.  A nice way to start the day I'd say:))

 BEAUTIFUL SUMMER MORNING SKIES

 HELLO BEANFIELD

HELLO AIRPLANE SO WAY UP HIGH IN THE SKY

 IF YOU TRY REAL HARD YOU MIGHT SEE A LARGE GRAY WHALE INSIDE A LARGER WHITE FISH

I knew where there to be a field of sunny Sunflowers nearby so that was our next destination before quickly heading home to wait for a phone call I knew was coming sometime between the hours of 10 and 11:30 a.m.

The phone call from the Musculoskeletal Rapid Access Center at London's Health Sciences Center in London regarding my hip finally came at 11:20.  I had a medical history sheet in front of me all filled out.  The phone call went well and here is what I sorta now know.  With my X-rays showing a large amount of arthritis in my right hip, I have officially been accepted for a hip replacement.  The wait time for a hip replacement in the two cities I chose are this....London-two years.  Stratford-One and a half years.  So, that left me having to choose a third place which I did.  Sarnia Ontario has a wait time of six to eight months.  So, Sarnia is where I will have it done.  Sarnia's Hospital is an easy sixty-four mile one hour and twenty-minute drive from here and 95% of that drive is through rural Ontario's scenic countryside.  I will have to go through a few pre-op check-ups and meetings so I'll deal with those when they come up.  However, there are two possible flies in the ointment though with one being pre-op and one being post-op.  The pre-op one concerns my diabetes numbers which right now average 8.2.  They have to be below 7.8.  The post-op one is this....I will be restricted from driving for possibly as long as 6 weeks and that throws a real big monkey wrench into me getting Kelly to and from her London plasmapheresis treatments.  And what about Pheebs morning Jeep rides.  Not good:((  But, that is all a long way off yet so we'll deal with those things when and if we get there.

PHEEBS PATIENTLY WAITS WHILE I TAKE A FEW SUNFLOWER PHOTOS

 ALONGSIDE THE SUNFLOWER FIELD THIS MORNING

My ratta-tat-tat drumsticks and quiet practice drum pad arrived by Amazona late Wednesday afternoon and I wasn't long in setting myself up a stool to sit on and an ottoman in front of me for the drum pad.  Twenty minutes later flailing away with my new drumsticks I suddenly ran right smack into a problem I had not anticipated or even expected.  I have always had poor posture and been what is called, 'round shouldered' which means my upper spine is curved forward and bent over.  As the years have progressed this has only become worse and I have had problems with my upper back off and on.  I noticed a year or so ago I was beginning to have pain in my upper left back close to my spine at the base of my neck.  But it only occurred if I sat too long in my computer chair.  The pain would begin slowly and increase as if someone was sticking a hot poker in that area of my back.  My only solution has been to get up and walk around for a while until that sharp pain settled down.  The computer chair was the only place I had that problem, until......I started practicing with my drumstick set-up.  So, after trying various positions like sitting on a stool to pillows behind my back in a chair the pain quickly increased in my upper back and I finally had to accept the inevitable.  My drumming idea was a bust.  The pain had quickly worsened.  So, I reluctantly packed up the sticks and pad this afternoon and put them back into their original box as Kelly made arrangements to return it to sender.  So, what's next??  Maybe I could try sipping some copious amounts of French onion soup, tipping my head back, and gurgling harmonious amounts of musical notes.

Al's Music Box:(( Mr. Bojangles by Sammy Davis Jr. from the album 'Portraits Of Sammy Davis Jr.'  1972

 A LITTLE BUZZY BEE ON A SUNFLOWER

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Zeke and Luke went to a trucking company to apply for a "Team" truck driving job. The personnel manager decided, after talking to them both that they weren't the sharpest knives in the drawer. He decides to interview them separately. He first interviews Zeke. After 15 minutes he completes the interview. Zeke barely passes. Next, he interviews Luke. He begins by asking the usual transportation-related questions. Luke also barely passes.  The personnel manager next interview them together. He presents them with this potential problem: Now Zeke and Luke, let's say that you two are a driving team. One of you is driving the rig and the other is asleep in the back. You are going down this very steep hill with sixty thousand pounds of steel on the truck. All of a sudden your breaks go out and your speed is increasing. What would be the first thing you'd do?  About a minute passed, and there was no answer. Then, all of a sudden Luke spoke up.  "I know, I know, I know the first thing I'd do". The personnel manager says "Yes Luke, what is the first thing you'd do?" Luke says, "I'd wake Zeke up." The personnel manager replies, "WHAT ! "Why would wake Zeke up?"  Cuz, says Luke, "He ain't never seen no big accident before!"

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