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| HEY, IT'S DARTH GRACKLE |
It was a low barely audible rumble I first heard in the night, and it kept getting louder as it got closer. Soon the thunderstorm with its driving wind and rain was upon us and there was no sleeping through that one. On the heels of the storm a few hours later, we were up with the chickens for a warm 54F early 6 a.m. start to the day. We were on the road shortly before 8 o'clock.
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| 'AND DON'T CALL ME DARTH'!!!! |
My appointment in Sarnia was for 10:15 and we wanted to be there plenty early on the off chance we might get in for my Doctor's appointment sooner. Timing was going to be crucial today. The weather department had issued a warning which read.... 'A strong cold front is expected to track through southern Ontario on Wednesday causing temperatures to drop dramatically along with the development of strong northwesterly winds gusting to 70 or 80 km/h for much of the afternoon and evening. The sudden temperature drop may lead to icy surfaces as temperatures fall below the freezing mark through the day. Be prepared to adjust your driving with changing road conditions. Snow squalls are expected this afternoon...... We wanted to get out of Sarnia and home as fast as we could before this potentially bad smasher of a winter storm hit us.
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| DRIVING CONDITIONS TO SARNIA THIS MORNING WERE FINE |
Gasing up at the Bayfield Garage we were soon southbound for Sarnia with an eye on the sky all the way. Skies looked pretty bad out over Lake Huron south of Grand Bend. The Bend later got clobbered by a lot of rain. I feel bad about Kelly having to do all this driving but my license is suspended until March 27th which is four weeks from yesterday. I am perfectly able to drive now and told Kelly not to worry about the weather because if we get caught in a bad storm I would do the driving, temporary license suspension or not!! |
| STORMY SKIES SOUTH OF GRAND BEND THIS MORNING |
Luckily, our morning drive to Sarnia went off without a hitch despite black threatening skies out over Lake Huron and sudden sharp wind gusts at the Sarnia end which dropped our 54F temps to 42F in an hour. The skies became so dark at one point our Subaru's automatic headlights came on. By the time we were home again early this afternoon temps had dropped below freezing to 25F. |
| BRIGHTER SKIES TO THE EAST |
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| MERGING ONTO HIGHWAY 402 AND HEADING WEST |
We walked into the hospital at 9:30 and headed directly to Registration and then Ambulatory Care. For my 10:15 appointment, we were in the outer waiting room by 9:55. Finally got into an inner room at 10:50 where a male Nurse guy quickly peeled back the bandage and promptly ripped 25 metal staples out of my hip. 'Bang-zoom' just like that. He said the surgery sight looked great. Ten minutes later Dr. Garach came in and had a look at things. He too was pleased with his good work and my healing process. I have to go back in 6 weeks for a follow-up and an X-ray. I'll be cleared to drive by then so I can go there myself and spare Kelly all that driving and waiting around. We were so glad to get to get home today but we were both really whipped. I was way more tired than I usually get. |
| PATIENTLY WAITING IN THE OUTER WAITING ROOM....AND A WARNING!! THE FOLLOWING TWO PICTURES ARE OF MY HIP SURGERY SCAR AND SOME FOLKS MAY WISH TO SKIP THIS |
Feeling the need for a carrot muffin before leaving the hospital we stopped at the snack bar and while Kelly looked after the parking kiosk I wolfed my muffin down. Rather than wait at the front door for Kelly to go get the car and pick me up I decided to walk to the car. The more walking I can get in the better it is for my hip. Rolling out of the hospital and heading east on London Road and then north on Indian Road we soon had our tires on the four-lane 402 highway. Our next stop was at Tim Hortons in Forest for two coffees to go and a grilled cheese sandwich which we split. We kept a close eye on the sky and with Kelly hanging onto the steering wheel in the high wind gusts we made it all the way home unscathed and never ran into a bit of snow or freezing ice pellets until we were just a couple miles from our house. Ohhhhhhh, we were so glad to be home. Pheebs was sound asleep in the sunroom by the patio door. It's always a big happy reunion whenever we three Bayfield Bunchers are all back together again each time.
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| ME AND MY MUFFIN |
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| WE SPLIT A GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH |
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| ANOTHER ONE OF MY FAVORITE INSTRUMENTALS ON SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO |
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| AN ICY COATING OF SNOW ON OUR FRONT DECK LATE THIS AFTERNOON |
Al's Music Box:(( Oh Lonesome Me is a popular song written and recorded in December 1957 by Don Gibson with Chet Atkins producing it for RCA Victor in Nashville. The song was released in 1958. The vocal backing was provided by the Jordanaires.
GROANER'S CORNER:(( There is a knock on the pearly gates. Saint Peter looks out, and a man is standing there. Saint Peter is about to begin his interview when the man disappears. A moment later there’s another knock. Saint Peter gets the door, sees the man, opens his mouth to speak, but the man disappears once again. “Hey, are you playing games with me?” Saint Peter calls after him, rather annoyed. “No” the man’s distant voice replies anxiously. “They are trying to resuscitate me.”- There are two kinds of people. Those who wake up in the morning and say, "Good morning, Lord," and those who wake up in the morning and say, "Good Lord, it's morning."
A guy goes to a girl's house for the first time, and she shows him into the living room. She excuses herself to go to the kitchen to get them some snacks and drinks. As he's standing there alone, he notices a cute little vase on the mantle.
He picks it up, and as he's looking at it, she walks back in. He says, "What's this?"
She says, "Oh, my father's ashes are in there." He turns beet red in horror and goes, "Geez, oh . . . I . . ." She says, "Yeah, he's too lazy to go to the kitchen to get an ashtray."
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That was rough weather you had to deal with .
ReplyDeleteYou didn't say so but it seems like you had a lot of pain, praying for you to heal quickly Mary
Congratulations! Procedural differences are interesting... my incision was made on my thigh, and closed with glue, if you can believe it. A small weep hole was left at the top. I drove myself to the first follow-up, 5 weeks later. By that time I was on Tylenol only, having had a bizarre experience with the prescribed pain killer... bizarre meaning hallucinations. I'd bet that a multitude of variations can be found across the country for this particular surgery. Mobility-wise, it seems that you are ahead of my recovery experience. Power to 'ya.
ReplyDeleteAnnette
Aha. A fine trip. A good report from the medic and a safe arrival home just in time. Pretty good!
ReplyDeleteGlad you made it to your appointment safely under the severe weather conditions.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the incision is healing fairly well.
Stay Safe and Enjoy your mobility.
It's about time.
I've not heard of a "temporary license suspension". Is that a requirement in Canada? With my knee replacements I was give a "recommended" time period for driving but I felt comfortable driving earlier and had not temporary suspension. That looked like a bad storm moving in and amazed at how the temperature changed so fast. March is here! You're going to survive yet another winter. Keep on pluggin'. You're doing great!
ReplyDeleteGlad you are perking along Al!
ReplyDeleteWas the staple-removing tool rusty?
ReplyDelete