Where did the month go?

I can't believe it's almost June. While the weather has been about perfect (for me), that is about to change. The forecast for next week is calling for highs in the low 90s. Wait a minute - we normally only have 5-7 days all summer long in that temp range! Yikes - glad we have good A/C. This gal doesn't deal well with heat. LOL!

What have we been up to? Here are some photos to show you...oh, and Stu has almost completely recovered from his carpel tunnel surgery and is done with the cataract surgery on both eyes. His follow-up is in late June when he will find out what he will need for correction (if anything).

Some new neighbors....






A little color in the yard...




Warming my toes in the sun (yeah, pants/socks #dontmatch #dontcare)...


The full moon as we waited for the International Space Station to pass over...


Stu hard at work planting the new shrubs for the front of the house...


We will add a second staggered row in front of these to better fill in the space...


Our magnetic screen door is back up - the #2doods love it (when the weather cooperates)...


Burning off energy inside...


Making sure I was awake at 6:30am before we headed off for Stu's first cataract surgery...


That's about it for now....till next time...

Ciao for now!

Now that we're home....

As we said earlier, we made it home - just in time for some gorgeous weather. We quickly moved the critical things out of the RV and back into the house after we arrived. We got our taxes in the mail on time and got to watch the tracking take them all over the place before being marked as delivered over a week later. Phew!

On Tuesday April 16th, we headed to Knoxville for Stu's appointment with an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Ivy. All went well and he left after a cortisone shot in his left thumb and an appointment for carpel tunnel release surgery on May 3rd.

Next up was our dermatologist appointments on April 22nd. Stu came out clear, I ended up with a biopsy (turned out benign), a couple of frozen spots on my arms and legs, plus orders for Efudex (a chemotherapy cream for pre-cancerous skin). The instructions were to use it twice a day for two weeks, applying a thin layer on my nose, cheeks and temples. Since I have already had a couple of spots on my nose frozen before, we hope this will take care of everything. I will be documenting the whole process in a later post - my follow up appointment isn't until July 22nd, so you can see how long this process can be!

Here are some photos of the wall behind the parking lot...






Then on April 24th we headed to Knoxville for lunch at the Downtown Brewery with good friends. What a great time we had!






Things were rolling along nicely until I woke up Sunday to a text to call my daughter as soon as possible. My grandson was involved in a bad auto accident. He swerved to avoid a deer, rolled the car, airbags deployed, rolled it again, then crashed into a tree. He had to have multiple surgeries to fix a shattered kneecap, broken ankle, broken wrist and badly broken elbow. In addition he ended up with more surgery to correct a fractured sternum. There were no head injuries, fortunately. He is still in the hospital in Colorado Springs but should be moving to rehab in the next day or two. He's doing much better!

We got a deal of the day on a bigger, better SunJoe pressure washer and Stu was impressed by what a great job it did. He will use it on the house and I will use the smaller one (no detergent tank) to keep the deck clean from mud & the dogs. LOL!


This is a before/after just using the small pressure washer with water only! See how nice and clean the dog chew spots are? {snicker}


So now it was up to Stu to get as much done as he could beforehand, knowing his right hand would be pretty much out of commission for two weeks. The first thing we did was to prune back the six rose bushes in the front and back yard. We hired a local guy to dig out our front planters completely and then dig out all the rose bushes so we could move them over by the fence. He did a great job and we will use him again when we need some yard work done.




Then Stu put in a drain system from the gutter to the side of the planter.


And then added mulch...


We purchased some Leyland Cypress trees to plant along the back fence in hopes that as they grow and fill out, the dogs won't see as much of the neighbors and will maybe not be so vocal about them. time will tell. We lucked out with a discount coupon for Lowe's from our change of address form we put in back in Folkston, GA plus there was a 20% discount if you bought 20 or more trees. Well, he bought all 28 of the available ones and got them planted. The cross fence you see is going to get moved to the front of our garage making it easier to let the dogs in/out without needing to go on the deck (a must when we rebuild it).


Next up is some nice dwarf Arborvitae trees for the front planter. The flowers have been moved to a couple other spots. If they live, fine. If not, that's okay too. Same with the rose bushes (but we suspect they will survive just fine). Here are the rose bushes and so far it looks like they are all budding! (two weeks after transplanting)


In other medical news, Stu saw his ophthalmologist and is scheduled for his cataract surgery. He will get his left eye done the morning of May 13th and the right done on May 20th. Each surgery has a follow-up appointment the same day, late in the afternoon. His follow-up on his carpel tunnel surgery is May 16th. Hopefully he will be done for a while.

The #2doods are loving life, as they always do. They boarded for two nights during Stu's surgery and although they love it there, they are always happy to be home. They have really been enjoying these 70-80 degree days!




They really love it when we sit out on the deck with them.




The carpel tunnel release surgery went well but it made for a long day. We had to be in Knoxville at noon ET, which meant leaving home at nine CT (allowing 2 hours drive time due to traffic issues). They took him back at noon but it was after four when they finally did the surgery. We got out of there just after five, stopped for dinner at Denny's and got home around seven. LONG day... He is doing well, three days of keeping it elevated and taking OTC meds (never filled the Rx for narcotic meds), and tomorrow he goes to a therapist to get the dressing changed and get it evaluated.






It hasn't slowed him down. He's mowed the entire yard over the last two days and even burned up a ton of weeds (his favorite method of killing them).






Oh, and we did have some short-term visitors down by our pond...


Oh, and I almost forgot - yesterday was mammogram day. Results were good!

Ciao for now!

A look back at Walt Disney World and what happened next!

We really enjoyed our vacation and felt we celebrated our tenth anniversary in style. Here are some notes:

• The scooter was worth every penny for me. Without it my energy level would have been much lower and I would have had a lot of back/hip pain. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. We rented from Apple Scooters but looking at the rentals at the hotel, Buena Vista seems to be the favorite for most folks.
• If you rent a scooter, be sure to bring something brightly colored to attach to the handlebar when you come back to it. They all look alike and for some reason, I kept thinking I had a red one. LOL!
• Something to clip on the back of the scooter seat is handy to hang things. While mine had a little basket, my purse took up that room. Stu used our Mickey Mouse clip to hang his backpack, helping HIS back.
• If you can, request a cup holder. I didn't have one and missed it.
• Bring a shower cap for the scooter controls for rain - I have a couple of cheap hotel ones in my travel stuff. It worked perfectly to cover the controls in the rain.
• Any time you are stopped for more than a few seconds - yes, SECONDS not minutes - turn the scooter off. It's not like a car - as soon as you turn the key back on, you can move.
• DO bring the charger, yes, it's a pain but better than finding yourself stranded. We only almost had an issue one day. We did so much walking/scooting that it JUST made it back to the room.
• Be prepared to get stopped going through the security check, they have to check the back storage area where the charger is usually stored (and where we ended up storing our mugs).
• We found FANTASTIC water bottles, ice cold for hours. Saved us. Amazon! Wish we had bought these years ago instead of multiple cheap options.
• When you are on a scooter, prepare to be INVISIBLE! Everyone is looking at eye level, the only ones that truly see you right away are kids at the same eye level. Even then, be prepared to stop quickly when people are ready to walk into you or when they stop abruptly in front of you. BRING YOUR PATIENCE!
• Don't be intimidated by getting on/off the buses. If you can't parallel park the scooter, they will park it for you! Just follow their instructions...some buses require you to get off the scooter but the newer ones have seat belts and you get to stay on it (I liked that).
• Use Fast Passes for the most popular rides. Because we were staying in the resort, we could book ours 60 days in advance. There was still one new ride in Pandora that we never could get. Next time!
• Download the Disney app - it has so much valuable information and can help you get the most out of your visit.
• While we loved the deluxe dining plan, we wouldn't do it again. But we would do the 2 coupon dinners at both Brown Derby and Sanaa. They were more than worth it.
• Buy a small power bank for your smart phone if you are using the Disney app. We each had one plus a short cable for our phones. Really helped. This one is about the size of a deck of cards but thinner. We just charged it in the hotel each night along with our phones and other items.

We left Disney on Saturday morning, headed to Vero Beach to see family.

Our intent was to have everyone gather since we hadn't see them all in a couple of years. I have two brothers living in the area along with three nieces and their families. In addition, one cousin lives in the area and another used to but has moved further north but both hoped to make it. Well, all good plans have to be prepared.

1. My middle brother had a heart attack and had to have an emergency stent put in.
2. His wife had a massive COPD attack and was hospitalized in the same hospital.
3. Their oldest daughter had an attack of pancreatitis and gallstones and, yup, same hospital.

So our first visit was to all three in said hospital...jeesh! What a way to see family, NOT! Fortunately, all three are now home and doing okay. A few lifestyle changes, but that's the way it goes.
We headed out after breakfast on Sunday and somewhere along the way, just north of Jacksonville I think, they were paving BOTH sides of US1.

But we did make it back to the RV in Folkston and by Tuesday we were packed up and headed back to our home in Tennessee. That's the next chapter...LOL!

Ciao for now!

Walt Disney World - Day #5 Animal Kingdom

WARNING: Photo intensive blog post!

We had nothing planned before our lunch reservation and we knew we would be up late to see the spectacular water and light show that night. So, we slept in and started the day leisurely. We arrived at Animal Kingdom Lodge a bit early for lunch but that enabled us to take some photos of the grounds. What an amazing place! We'd both love to spend a night or two here but, oh my, the price. LOL!

Once again, the bus transportation was good, even with the scooter. We did have to take two buses but it really wasn't all that bad. The drivers are all trained in dealing with the scooters, wheelchairs, etc and if I had problems, they quickly jumped in to help.

The resort hotel has wonderful spot to watch the animals from above on wide decks (with rockers for those who want to sit) as well as from ground level. Here are some photos we took...

Our first look outside...

This was the entrance on the ground level from the animal viewing area...

Here are some pics from inside the lodge...beautiful place!

Lunch was a sit down at the Sanaa restaurant, another double coupon meal and WELL worth it! We would eat here again in a heartbeat.

The entrance to the restaurant...

Some hidden Mickey ears...

Inside the restaurant...

Each seating area had different ceiling lights...

Our waiter was superb as was the food...oh, and once again we got complimentary champagne as our anniversary pixie dust!

Five kinds of flat bread with a variety of spicy toppings - I liked the second one, Stu went almost to the top of the"hot" range...

Stu's appetizer (we don't remember what it was but he said it was really good)...

My Tandoori chicken was SOOOO good!

Stu enjoyed his burger, too.

Of course, we didn't skip dessert...

I had the Kenyan coffee dessert and almost forgot to take a photo...

Stu had the triple chocolate mousse...

We topped that off with some of the best coffee ever!

Once done, we took the bus back to Animal Kingdom where we still had adventures ahead. One was the bird show using characters from the movie UP. (there are a TON more photos in the SmugMug album).

While we were waiting for the show, "Kevin" passed by...we got a giggle out of his/her antics (in the movie, Kevin was a she at the end).

The show was a lot of fun but it was hard to get good photos...

We went on the Kilimanjaro Safaris® Expedition again, sunny day, no Fast Pass, but not a long wait. Nice thing was being on the scooter, we got moved over to a shorter line to head to the platform for scooters again. We saw totally different things this time around, including both and Watusi cow/steer AND a giraffe walking directly in front of our truck.

We also had a friendly ostrich visit...

Once done there, Stu went on the Expedition Everest coaster while I waited in the shade. When he was done, there was only a short wait for the Rivers of Light show. When asked for seating at UP, I told them I didn't need assistance for seating. That meant front row BUT bleachers with no back. I learned my lesson and when asked the same question for the light show, I told them I didn't need assistance to a seat but I preferred to sit on the scooter (where I had back support). No problem!

We were treated to a spectacular sunset show while we waited for Disney's show...

The light show was wonderful but hard to get good photos or to show how big it was...here are a few, many more on SmugMug.

And before we knew it, our anniversary celebration was over.

Ciao for now!