THE WONDERFUL WARM FEELING OF TOASTY TOOTSIES

 NOT MUCH IN THE WAY OF PHOTOS TODAY, JUST WHATEVER I COULD FIND THROUGH THE WINDOW

It was a gaggle of pine tree Crows I first heard when I opened the patio door early this morning to let Pheebs out on this frigidly cold 12F morning.  But hey, the Sun was shining and I knew this icy air was not here to last.  For this time of year and despite a few glitches, we have a nice warming trend headed our way, and in my life, warming trends are good.

THIS PILE OF PLOWED SNOW SHOULD BE GONE OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS

The strengthening warmth of the Sun penetrated through our sunroom windows to the extent I considered bringing in and setting up a standing fan to cool me off.  Another benefit of the sun shining through our windows is that it warms up our floor and whenever I walker walk across a section of carpet in my bare feet with sun shining on it, I have the wonderful warm feeling of toasty tootsies  At this stage of life, toasty
tootsies is good:))  

LATE AFTERNOON SHADOWS ON ONE OF MY PATHS

 HAVING TRIMMED THIS TREE WAY BACK IN THE FALL I AM CURIOUS IF I WILL SEE ANY BUDS ON IT THIS SPRING

 A SCRAMBLE OF RED DOGWOOD BRANCHES

Al's Music Box:)) I've Been Everywhere is a song written by Australian country singer Geoff Mack in 1959.  A version of the song with different lyrics was popularised by Hank Snow in 1962.  In 1962, the song was a number-one US country hit.

First verse

Reno, Chicago, Fargo, Minnesota, Buffalo, Toronto, Winslow, Sarasota, Wichita, Tulsa, Ottawa, Oklahoma, Tampa, Panama, Mattawa, La Paloma, Bangor, Baltimore, Salvador, Amarillo, Tocopilla, Barranquilla and Padilla.

Second verse

Boston, Charleston, Dayton, Louisiana, Washington, Houston, Kingston, Texarkana, Monterey, Ferriday, Santa Fe, Tallapoosa, Glen Rock, Black Rock, Little Rock, Oskaloosa, Tennessee, Hennessey, Chicopee, Spirit Lake, Grand Lake, Devil's Lake and Crater Lake.

Third verse

Louisville, Nashville, Knoxville, Ombabika, Schefferville, Jacksonville, Waterville, Costa Rica, Pittsfield, Springfield, Bakersfield, Shreveport, Hackensack, Cadillac, Fond du Lac, Davenport, Idaho, Jellico, Argentina, Diamantina, Pasadena and Catalina.

Fourth verse

Pittsburgh, Parkersburg, Gravelbourg, Colorado, Ellensburg, Rexburg, Vicksburg, Eldorado, Larimore, Atmore, Haverstraw, Chatanika, Chaska, Nebraska, Alaska, Opelika, Baraboo, Waterloo, Kalamazoo, Kansas City, Sioux City, Cedar City and Dodge City.

 STAG HORN SUMAC

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A college's student body is composed of the sons and daughters of the very rich who could not meet the academic requirements of any other college. Lo and behold, the college basketball team wins every game and dominates their league. All this success is due to one amazing player - a cross between Larry Bird and Michael Jordan.  This kid is terrific. The player and the team become the center of nationwide media attention. The student body is thrilled. Now, the NCAA goes to the college and asks for proof of this player's academic eligibility. The college administration promises such documentation in a few days. The faculty works night and day coaching the student for the crucial test.  The day of the public examination arrives, and the entire student body is there to support their star player. A professor stands, and announces the first question, "How much is five and two?" The student frowns in deep concentration - he thinks, he sweats, he shakes with effort. At last he shouts the answer, "SEVEN". The entire student body rises, and as a single voice, they cry. "Give him another chance. Give him another chance".

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"Man who stands in front of car gets tired, man who stands behind car gets exhausted."

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The new army recruit was given guard duty at 2 a.m. He did his best for a while, but at about 4 a.m. he went to sleep. He awakened to find the officer of the day standing before him.  Remembering the heavy penalty for being asleep on guard duty, this smart young man kept his head bowed for another moment and looked upward and reverently said......... 'Amen'.
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I HAVE COME TO A FEW MORE CONCLUSIONS!!

PHEEBS MADE IT OUT TO THE DRIVEWAY TODAY BUT I DIDN'T

A magical morning sunrise with a touch of pinky-orange mist riding atop fairytale shafts of giggling sunbeams wandered laughingly through our tall pine trees to start my day off on the right foot. (literally:))  If only it had lasted.

 COULD THIS SHADOW BE THE REAL SPIDERMAN IN OUR OUTDOOR PORCH LAMPSHADE

With the iPad jingling me awake at 4 a.m. I popped my pain pill and reassuredly drifted back to sleep knowing I wouldn't be woken up later by a grinding pain in my right hip.  I was off to a good start.  Much better than a week ago.

 HEY WAIT A MINUTE, IT'S TOO EARLY FOR RASPBERRIES

 OKAY, SO THEY WERE JUST TINY LITTLE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

Had it not been a cold wind driving the windchill factor to below freezing today I would have taken Pheebs for a walk in our driveway.  Saturday's high of 23F is not doable either but Sunday and Monday we will be back up around 40F with sunshine so Pheebs and I plan to be outside doing laps around the house:))  Wednesday, Kelly and I will be back at the Sarnia Hospital for a post-op check-up with the surgeon whereupon he will take my stitches out.  The day before on Tuesday, Kelly will drive me to my first Physio appointment in Exeter, Ontario.  I hope they go easy on me and don't try to bend my leg around behind the back of my head:((

OUR SQUIRREL CORN SUPPLY IS GETTING LOW BUT I HAVE MORE IN THE CARPORT

TWO PEANUT BUTTER JARS FULL OF CORN KERNALS

With a list of errands, Kelly and the Subaru slipped up to Goderich early this afternoon.  I kept myself busy with my exercises, a load of laundry. and another deck Safari with Pheebs.  Not very many front yard photos to find but I did scrabble together a few.  I also washed my hair in the kitchen sink and never even hardly made much of a mess.  I surprised myself.  Found time to make a coffee and a smoothie as well.  Needless to say, my hip is definitely on the mend.   

 'NO DAD, I AM NOT GOING TO LET YOU TRY GOING DOWN THESE STEPS WHEN MOM ISN'T HERE'!!

Being 11 days out from surgery now I have come to a few more conclusions.  Hypothetically speaking, 'what if my other hip at some point in the future also developed severe arthritis??  Would I make the same decisions about where and how I had my right hip surgery done.  I would answer that question with a resounding 'NO'!!  And, here's why.  First, a few observations since my surgery.  It seems the United States, in regard to hip surgery, is far ahead of Canada.  Kelly's sister Becky had a pain-free knee replacement as well as a pain-free hip replacement.  She said in both those cases the anesthesia person injected the operation site previous to surgery with pain meds and freezing.  I never had any of that and it's no wonder I woke up in the recovery room in 'excruciating' pain.  Becky also said that the Physio people had her up and walking after both surgeries and she went home the same day.  She also said that right away the Physio people came directly to her home the next day and the physio program continued on from there.  There was no waiting a week or two to begin physio.  Also, there are two ways to do hip surgery.  One is called the 'Lateral' approach which I had done through the side of my hip with muscles being cut.  The other newer one is the 'Direct Anterior' approach which is done from the front of the hip and is not as invasive.  Muscles are not cut doing it this way.  Also, next time, if I couldn't have it done in the States I would choose London's University Hospital over any of the other smaller hospitals doing this.  I could be wrong here but I would have more confidence in University Hospital not making the mistakes that were made in my case at Sarnia's Bluewater Hospital.  I don't mean to knock the hospital, the surgeon, or the nursing staff, but I for sure would have a big bone to pick with the anesthesia guy and his unprofessional attitude!!!!  

 I AM COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS TO WHEN MY WHEELBARROW AND I CAN TEAM UP ONCE AGAIN FOR ANOTHER SPRING YARD CLEAN-UP

 IT WASN'T EASY FINDING COLOR IN OUR FRONT YARD THIS AFTERNOON

Al's Music Box:)) In The Early Morning Rain sometimes styled as "Early Mornin' Rain," is a song written, composed, and recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. The song appears on his 1966 debut album Lightfoot! and, in a re-recorded version, on the 1975 compilation Gord's Gold.  Lightfoot wrote and composed the song in 1964, but its genesis took root during his 1960 sojourn in Westlake, Los Angeles. Throughout this time, Lightfoot sometimes became homesick and would go out to the Los Angeles International Airport on rainy days to watch the approaching aircraft. The imagery of the flights taking off into the overcast sky was still with him when, in 1964, he was caring for his 5-month-old baby son and he thought, "I’ll put him over here in his crib, and I’ll write myself a tune." "Early Morning Rain" was the result.  I also like Peter Paul and Mary's version of In The Early Morning Rain as well.

A Blast From Our Past::  An All Round Nice Day At Our Congress Arizona House 

 OUR BACK YARD'S SOUTH END AT OUR CONGRESS HOUSE.....I THINK WE HAD AN ACRE HERE

 LANDSCAPING OUR CONGRESS HOUSE, PHEEBS DUG THE HOLES IN THE HARD GROUND AND I PLANTED ALL THE CACTUS PLANTS....WE HAD 3 SAGUAROS RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE WITH TWO OF THEM OVER 12 FEET TALL AND ESTIMATED TO BE ABOUT 150 YEARS OLD

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Bill was short of money and was out looking for a job. Pastor Nelson offered Bill $500 to buy paint and paint the church. Well Bill went out bought some paint and started painting the church. He discovered that he was using more paint than he expected so he added some thinner to the paint. It still covered but not as well as it did at first. Bill was still using more paint than he wanted to use. The paint was too thin to cover well but Bill still kept on painting. All of a sudden there was a bolt of lightning and a loud voice from the sky proclaimed, "Bill!!"......."Repaint and thin no more."

 I was raised as an only child.  That got on my brother’s nerves.

How do you get a man to do sit-ups?  Put the remote control between his feet.

 "Frank, if you have 20 dollars and Bill takes away 14. What would you have?” said the teacher. "A fight!” answers Frank.

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KELLY LOVES HER BLACKBERRY SMARTPHONE...BUT

'OH NO WHEN IS MY DAD GOING TO TAKE ME FOR A JEEP RIDE'

It was an old iPad that woke me up at 3 a.m. this morning.  Good thing too, because it was time for me to take a Percocet pill.  Kelly had bought this refurbished iPad in Spencerport New York years ago and kinda forgot she had it.  Wednesday night she dug it out, dusted it off, and programmed it as an alarm clock to wake me up.  Yep, I sure do like those Apple products alright:)) 

 MY MEDICAL ALARM CLOCK

I had to scratch my head for a bit today trying to think of something to write about other than my medical situation at the moment.  I'm sure it gets to be a bit much after a while for blog readers to read all this stuff.  With today's temps well above freezing and most of our snow gone I had the first slight urge to venture outside.  And, had the Sun been shining I might have found it hard to resist that urge.  However, the day remained mostly cloudy and I remained inside.  My next challenge was to find a few photos for tonight's post.  No easy task under my present circumstances.

 NEARLY ALL OUR SNOW IS GONE

ALWAYS NICE TO SEE OUR COLLECTION OF SOUTHWEST ROCKS EMERGE FROM UNDER THE SNOW AND ONCE AGAIN, THE CLOSER YOU LOOK, THE MORE FACES YOU WILL SEE

I feel so sorry for Pheebs because she just doesn't understand why we are not out in the morning for our Jeep rides.  She stands and stares at me with doggy question marks in her eyes.  This morning she was lying on the sunroom floor and when I went clomping by in the hall she didn't even look at me or lift her head.  The saddest part was when she flopped her tail a couple times.  Usually, that tail would be wagging a hundred miles an hour.  I can tell she is depressed.  But, early this afternoon I was able to get my shoes on, and with my walker, I opened the sunroom door and walked out onto our front deck and porch to take a few photos.  Tomorrow, with Kelly's help to get my walker down the steps I'm sure Pheebs and I can take a little walk around in our driveway.  With a secure railing, going up and down stairs is not a problem.  And anyone who has done that, knows that.

 PHEEBS AND I ARE OUT ON A DECK SAFARI

Kelly loves her Blackberry smartphone and has patiently nursed it along ever since its inception back in the age of the cellular Dinosaur.  Hardly able to retain a charge anymore, Kelly is at the point where the writing is on the wall and she needs a new phone.  For a long time now she has been hesitant to change but the time is now upon her.  She researches everything diligently and spent time on the phone again today discussing her options with various smartphone people.  We'll see what happens but I think she might be leaning towards an iPhone this time.  

DOING HER NEW SMARTPHONE RESEARCH

I have gone through a few books since I last did a book report.  I found fighter pilot Peter Townsend's book entitled, Duel Of Eagles: The Classic Pilot's Account of the Battle Of Britain. (this was a long 27-hour read) It is the best historically detailed and accurate account of the air war between England and Germany I have ever read. Complete with many backstories. Townsend writes this book from both the English and German points of view beginning with the end of the first world war.  He also wrote a follow-up book entitled, Duel In The Dark: A Fighter Pilot's Story of the Blitz.  Again written with a view to both sides in the bombing of London England.  Another recently finished book I read was, Life After Death and Medical Mysteries.  Another fascinating read if one can willingly free their mind enough to expand their knowledge. 

Al's Music Box:)) Turn! Turn! Turn! is a song written by Pete Seeger in 1959. The lyrics – except for the title, which is repeated throughout the song, and the final two lines – consist of the first eight verses of the third chapter of the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes.  The song was adapted by the Byrds in a folk rock arrangement and released as a single by Columbia Records on October 1, 1965.  The song was also included on the band's second album, Turn! Turn! Turn!, which was released on December 6, 1965. "Turn! Turn! Turn!" had first been arranged by the Byrds' lead guitarist Jim McGuinn in a chamber-folk style during session for Judy Collins' 1963 album, Judy Collins 3.  The idea of reviving the song came to McGuinn during the Byrds' July 1965 tour of the American Midwest, when his future wife, Dolores, requested the tune on the Byrds' tour bus.  The rendering that McGuinn dutifully played came out sounding not like a folk song but more like a rock/folk hybrid, perfectly in keeping with the Byrds' status as pioneers of the folk-rock genre.  McGuinn explained, "It was a standard folk song by that time, but I played it and it came out rock 'n' roll because that's what I was programmed to do like a computer. I couldn't do it as it was traditionally. It came out with that samba beat, and we thought it would make a good single."  The master recording of the song reportedly took the Byrds 78 takes, spread over five days of recording, to complete.

 COME ON DAD, MORE TUMMY TICKLES

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A traveling salesman from New York was traveling through Georgia around Christmas time and stopped at a convenience store next to a church.  He told the lady cashier that the nativity scene next door was really beautiful but he couldn't understand why the three wise men had firemen's helmets on.  The lady said "that's the trouble with you yankees, you never read your Bibles or you would know."  He said "maam, I have read my Bible through three times and I have never seen anything to explain this."  She said, " I will show you" and opened up her bible. " It says right here that the three wise men came from a "far".

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A new patient was quite upset when the doctor’s nurse led him to a small, curtained cubicle and told him to undress. "But I only want the doctor to look at an ingrown toenail!" he protested. "Our rule is that everyone must undress," replied the nurse. "That’s a stupid rule," grumbled the patient, "making me undress just to look at my toe." "That’s nothing," growled a voice from the next cubicle. "I just came here to fix the phones!"

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KELLY PASSES ANOTHER STRESS TEST IN LONDON THIS AFTERNOON

 KELLY HEADS OUT OF THE DRIVEWAY ON HER WAY TO LONDON

How nice when I slid back our living room's patio door to let Pheebs out early this morning and heard the twittering of a songbird nearby.  I couldn't readily identify the sound but if I had to guess, I would say it was a Robin.  What a wonderful sound of possibly an early Spring I thought to myself.  Just think, Spring will officially begin in less than a month from now on March 19th:))))))

Under sunny skies and above-freezing temperatures, it was Kelly in the Subaru rolling out of our driveway at 11 a.m. heading for London's University Hospital.  Being her fiercely independent self (we are so much alike) she had insisted all along that she did not need someone to drive her there today.  She had two back-to-back appointments beginning at 1 p.m.  One of those appointments was a physical stress test.

For our twice-monthly country road coffee runs it was Richard's turn to drive this morning.  Good thing because I'm not allowed to drive a vehicle for the next five weeks.  Just after 11 a.m. he carefully backed his van into our driveway and I, with my walker......opened our sunroom's patio door for him.  And you thought I was going to say I headed out the door and hopped into his van.  Nope, not quite yet.  With two Tim Hortons coffees and two Bran muffins in hand, Richard came in and we spent the next couple of hours in our usual fast-paced flowing conversation.  Good stuff.    

PHEEBS WITH ONE HER TOYS TODAY

It was a week ago today that Kelly brought me home from the hospital.  Here are a few thoughts and recommendations about this past week.  First and foremost, if I had managed my pain medication better I could have saved myself a lot of unnecessary pain.  Relying on my mind to remind myself to take a pill every six hours let me down.  I should have set an alarm clock on the kitchen counter to go off at the correct times.  You folks with smartphones could easily program your phones to do this.  The biggest problem happens at night.  If you go to bed at 10 p.m. your next pill is due at no later than 4 a.m. and not at 6 a.m. when you wake up.  By then, the pill's effectiveness has worn off and you will wake up in pain.  And, take it from me, you do not want to do that!!!!  In fact, I would suggest you take that pain pill every 5 hours instead of 6.  If you have to wake yourself up in the middle of the night just to take the pill....do it!!  I've also found that pain induces negative thoughts and irritability.  I found this past week that whenever I was free of pain my mind was totally positive about my current situation.  The following week has seen a series of setbacks and improvements but it was this afternoon I felt the biggest improvement.  I found myself walking faster with the walker and being able to transfer more weight off the walker and onto my right leg.  I still need the walker to get around but I am now seeing a glimmer of light at the end of this week-long tunnel.......Kelly made it back from London this afternoon at 5:40 p.m.  She said everything went well and she passed her stress test with no problem.  She has another appointment a month from now.  She also said she had no problem driving there and back.  By the end of today, I was feeling very upbeat:))         

KELLY HELPS ME GET MY PRESSURE STOCKINGS OFF TO GIVE MY LEGS A BREAK

 I KNEW THE PRE-OP NURSE LAST TUESDAY WROTE SOMETHING ON MY RIGHT LEG BUT I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS UNTIL WE GOT THE PRESSURE STOCKINGS OFF THIS MORNING

 THIS WAS NO DOUBT FOR THE SURGEON TO MAKE SURE HE WAS OPERATING ON THE CORRECT LEG

Al's Music Box:)) The Days Of Wine And Roses is a popular song, from the 1982 movie of the same name. The music was written by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. They received the Academy Award for best Original Song for their work, as well as the 1964 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.  In 2004 it finished at #39 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.  The song's lyric is notable for consisting of just two complex sentences, each of which forms one of the song's two stanzas.  The best-known recordings of the song were by  Billy Eckstine in 1961 and Andy Williams in 1963.  This is Andy Williams version.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A drunken Irishman gets on a train and asks the conductor how long the trip is between Limerick to Cork.  "About two hours," says the conductor.  "Okay," says the drunkard, "then how long is the trip between Cork to Limerick?"The irate conductor says to the   drunk, "It's still about two hours, laddie. Why'd ya think there'd be a difference?"  "Well," says the drunk, "it's only a week between Christmas and New Year's, but it's a helluva long time between New Year's and Christmas!"

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Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Dishes.
Dishes who?
Dishes Sean Connery.

Q: What's the difference between a cat and a complex sentence?
A: A cat has claws at the end of its paws and a complex sentence has a pause at the end of its clause.

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Oliver Hardy: 'Didn't you once tell me that you had an uncle?'

Stan Laurel: 'Sure, I've got an uncle. Why?'
Oliver: 'Now we're getting somewhere. Is he living?'

Stanley: 'No. He fell through a trap door and broke his neck.'

Oliver: 'Was he building a house?'

Stanley: 'No, they were hanging him.'
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