Birthday Dinner...

My sister and her husband arrived Tuesday, just a few minutes after we got off work. We decided to go out to dinner for my birthday so we went to the Village Tavern. We've heard great things about this restaurant and it's only about three miles from our place. The restaurant was awesome ! It was a beautiful post and beam structure with soft lighting, an open display kitchen, wood fired pizza oven and a great outside patio area.

I had Shrimp Bayou which was good but a little on the salty side. Linda and my sister, Phyllis had the shrimp scampi which was amazing. My brother-in-law, Mickey had tilapia and he said it was very good. For dessert, the server brought out a birthday sundae that we all shared. We had a great time with them..it's the first time that I think we've socialized with them outside of family events. It was a fun evening and the restaurant is certainly a place we'd go back to again. Once we got back to the community, I gave them a little tour of the place. Some of the residents were sitting in the atrium listening to some music, playing on a boombox. Paul, one of the residents who used to be a dance instructor "back in the day" asked my sister to waltz so they took a spin around the dance floor. He told me the next day that he really enjoyed dancing with her and that she was really good. She and my BIL used to take ballroom dance classes and actually won an event many years ago out of hundreds of other couples. I remember watching them dance, back when they took these classes, and it was a lot of fun to watch them do all the fancy moves.

That evening, after they left to go to their hotel, we got hit with a horrible storm. We were under a tornado watch until 3 a.m. and Boomer was pacing most of the night. It poured rain all night and most of the next day.

I went back to work on Wednesday...working a reduced schedule of 40 hours until my final appt on Nov 24th. I also have to adhere to the low weight restriction on my lifting until then too. Feeling good...if I'm out and about too much or walking for too long, I start to feel a little sore and achy in my abdomen and know I need to sit down and take it easy.

Today we drove out to Wilkesboro, NC to check out the W.Kerr Scott dam and surrounding campgrounds. We have seen the listing on the Workamper web site for the Army Corp of Engineer positions that go up for bid each year and thought since this location is so close to us, that we'd check it out. It's a gorgeous area and a pretty, fall day to take in the sights. Boomer enjoyed getting in the water at the boat launch. We got some info on the bid process from a volunteer at the visitor center and went to check out the site arrangements for the workers at Bandit's Roost campground. Seems to be a fairly small campground....nice setting and the two sites, for the contracted positions is located right near the entrance gate. Everything was nice but after talking about it, we decided that this would be an ideal type of position once we wanted to slow down in a job and stay put for 4 or 5 months. It would seem to be a rather slow paced job and really long hours each day. Even worse than what we work now ! We'll file the info away for "someday", in case we need it.

Check Up

Yesterday was my first follow up appt with the Dr since my surgery. It will be two weeks ago tomorrow that I had it done and he was really pleased with everything. All of the stitches are doing well, everything is where it should be (that's always nice to hear) and he released me to go back to work part-time. I still have the weight restriction of nothing over 20# and that will remain until my next appt, and final one, in a month. So he wrote me up a slip saying I can come back to part time hours and stupid me, after processing so many leaves of absences and doctor's notes for others over the years, I should have had him give more detail cause what he wrote didn't fly with our benefits people. So I'm faxing him a letter asking for more clarification....like I can work 40 hours, instead of my usual 60+ and cannot lift over 20# during x amount of time. Hopefully my doctor will get that refaxed to me today so benefits will clear me to work. Lots to do...we're trying to get a maintenance person hired, a new housekeeper is starting and a big event coming up in a couple weeks. So for a little while this morning I'm still sitting in my sweats and relaxing....


My sister called me yesterday and she and her husband are coming to see us tomorrow. Mickey has to pick up a tractor in the area so they will stop in and say hello, while in the area. Will be nice to see them and chat for a bit before they head north again.

Looks like another rainy day here...had hard rain yesterday which we really need. Grass is nice and green right now and really lush. Hard to believe it's the end of October. Speaking of which....just two more days till the big "5-0" for me. I contemplated on that for a little bit, yesterday while I sat waiting for the doctor to come in...More on that later....

Pilot Mountain

On Saturday Linda and I decided to drive up to Pilot Mountain. Since we drive past it to get to the campground, we had to backtrack a bit to get there. It was a gorgeous crisp, fall day so we thought it would be an ideal time to get great views from on top of the mountain.

With my physical restrictions, the typical activities that one does on Pilot Mountain such as hiking, rock climbing, kayaking, bicycling, etc. are not ones that I can do. I was hoping as we drove to the top that the overlook area would be relatively close to the parking lot to limit the amount of walking I'd have to do. Well, it wasn't too far but was down a pretty good grade so I took it real slow and Linda had a hold of my arm to make sure I didn't cover too much ground too quickly. Funny how the steep grade could be felt in my abdomen as we came back up. We did have some awesome views from the overlook though.

If you look real close, those dark buildings way off in the distance are Winston Salem.

Once we left Pilot Mountain, we drove back to Mt. Airy and went to Wal-Mart to get some things. Our weekend is cut short since there is a big event today at work and Linda is expected to help out if needed. If these things were once in a while, it wouldn't be so bad but they've been twice a month and always on our days off which means we get one day off instead of two and have to cut camping short. We're just a little bit grumpy today. Too much to do (and I can't help)and not enough people to do it all.

Tuesday

Linda got off today at 3:30 so we've been hanging out. I taught her how to play the new computer game I downloaded...Zuma's Revenge. When my kids were little they had tried to show me how to play video games but I couldn't ever figure out how to make Mario "swing" or "jump", etc. I was a video game idiot, to say the least. This game is just about shooting colored balls till you get a combination of 3 and then they smash and disappear. As you advance up through the levels, the playing field changes, faster speed, more rows of balls coming at you, etc. Fun but it's weird how playing these kinds of games makes you tense up really bad. Linda stopped playing after a little while and said "Whew"...and said it was very stressful. It is in a way....that must be the rush that kids feel or have felt for years playing these games. I can understand how addictive it could be though. You want to keep advancing to the next level to see what new challenge lies ahead. For me, recuperating from surgery...I can feel that tenseness in my stomach as I play the game so probably a good thing that I not do it for hours on end.

Today it was a crazy day for Linda here. Fire marshal was here to do inspection and our city health inspector was here (we got a 99). In this part of North Carolina, food operations have to post their inspection scores which I think is a great idea and should be the norm all over the country. All tests complete and good rating all the way around.

We took Boomer to the dog park....a place we haven't been to in a long while. He had a blast, romping with the other dogs there. He's sacked out on the floor in front of me....visions of that female german shepherd dancin' in his head...

Body is gaining a little bit every day. You really realize how much different "life" activities and movements affect your body when it's been cut and repaired and feels all the bumps and turns. It doesn't hurt to roll over in bed anymore. I can almost walk a normal stride without it pulling on my abdomen. It's the little things in life that make up a pain-free day. That and a bottle of Ibuprofen !!

Lazy Sunday...

Saturday Becky flew back to Boston to enjoy her last week of unemployment before starting her new job at Berklee. We're so excited for her. What a perfect position for someone who loves music so much...to work at a school exclusively about the music business, providing an education to young people who share that same passion for music. I can't wait to hear all about her job in the months ahead as she gets settled in there.

My days are pretty uneventful, as I guess they should be. Walking, lounging, napping, eating, internet browsing, and then off to bed for a new day of the same events. Can't sit for too long or I get very stiff and sore so I take a little stroll around the walking path or through the interior hallways here. I took an hour long nap just now and awoke to the shrill e-call siren going off in our apartment. That made the ole tummy muscles contract a wee bit. Luckily it must have been a false alarm as it stopped after just one loud, annoying blare. It is a beautiful day here..in the high 60's with a light breeze blowing.

The hard thing for me is my "Do Not Do" list is way longer than my "Can Do" list. I feel really bad for Boomer that he's cooped up with me too and I can't take him out for walks. I've figured out a way to at least let him go outside. If I hook the retractable leash over the door handle, it will retract far enough that he can go out in the back yard to pee. A "No Hands Approach" to walking the dog....
That way it won't jar me if he sees a squirrel and takes off on a dead run (that would really hurt). Think I will reheat our leftover shrimp fajitas and eat it out on the back patio while Boomer lounges in the grass enjoying the last rays of sunlight. More later....

Recovering

My surgery went well Wednesday morning. Linda was getting a little nervous cause it took longer than they had told her for me to come out of recovery. My body doesn't care for anesthesia and the nurses couldn't get me to wake up. They finally did and then took me to my room where I spent most of Wednesday dozing. The anesthesia reared its' ugly head again as it tried to get out of my system. Guess they didn't give me near enough of the anti-nausea medicine. Anyway, I was discharged from the hospital around 6 p.m.on Thursday and after stopping by the apartment to pack up some items, we headed to the campground. It's been so great having Becky here to help Linda with things. My pain and discomfort isn't too bad...Get tired out easily and need to lay down and rest a little before I get up and go again.

I'm taking it easy. Tomorrow Becky flies back to Boston. On Thursday, while I was napping, she got the call we've been waiting for. She got the job at Berklee's School of Music that she interviewed for. She's going to be a Program Assistant in the Student Activities dept. What a great opportunity ! We're so happy for her. She starts on November 1st.

Guess that's all for now. My thanks to everyone who sent their good wishes and prayers for my surgery. I appreciate it so much and can't wait to get to the point where I'm fully recovered and don't have any restrictions. Driving me crazy not being able to do stuff and having to sit on the sidelines while Linda or Becky do it. This too shall pass....

Day of Pre-Op...

I spent a good majority of today between the doctor's office and the anesthesiologists office, getting my pre-op stuff done for my surgery on Wednesday. They are not sure whether they will knock me out or give me a spinal for the surgery. Is up to my doctor and depends on length of surgery. Becky, my daughter, went with me to the doctor's office so she heard the detail of what he expects to do. Was probably more info than she cared to hear but now she knows...Surgery will probably take around two hours, depending how much he has to repair once he get in there. The hysterectomy is pretty cut and dry but the mesh sling to neck of my bladder and other stuff he might need to do could make the surgery go longer than an spinal would keep me under for. In a way, I'd prefer a spinal, although I've never had one because it wouldn't make me nauseous like general anesthesia does. We'll see what the doc says....

Anxious to get it over and done with...then Linda won't be a nervous wreck anymore. It has been a rough week here at work. Last night during supper one of our residents suffered a stroke. I found him when another resident told me they thought he had dozed off. When I got to him I could see that wasn't the case and from the paralysis on his one side, it seemed pretty evident he had or was having a stroke. We got the EMT's here pronto but it's not looking very good that he'll recover. Last Friday our oldest resident passed away. She was a great lady...you would never guess she was 96 years old. It was really quick too for her...one night I chatted with her and her daughter while they were working on a puzzle and the next day her daughter said she was sick and that we should call an ambulance. It will be a great memory for her daughter of having spent that night playing with her mom in our community while working on that puzzle together. A lesson for all of us....never take for granted the time you spend with your loved ones. We never know when it could be the last time. Working here has made Linda and I realize that and makes us want to get back out on the road to continue with our adventures. We're working hard to get to that goal !

And it Shall Be Called Fun-Mart....

Ok, how cool is it that you can go to Walmart AND buy a funnel cake while you're there. Way Cool, I think ! We're camping...we were in the mood for crackers, cheese, a little wine and some beer and figured we'd hop down to the local Walmart to get these items. There is an Autumn Leaves festival going on in town this weekend, drawing over 200,000 people. We drove through the downtown area (or attempted to) yesterday and discovered that the whole downtown area was blocked off for a craft show, etc. We navigated out around it and headed back to camp. Nothing we need and didn't care to walk a long ways from parking spot to check it out. Meanwhile back to my Walmart story....we pull in the parking lot and there are all of these vendors set up across the front of the store. Probably around 10 vendors, one of which was the Boy Scouts, who were making funnel cakes. Set up right outside the exit door....how strategic a set-up is that ? It was very yummy...the crackers, cheese, wine and beer weren't bad either. :)

In other news...my daughter is coming to hang out with me and play nurse for a few days after I have my surgery. Her flight, from Boston, left at 8:30 this morning. Only thing is, she's not on it. Seems she thought that a 5:30 a.m. departure wasn't worth getting any sleep for and pulling an all nighter would be a better idea. Around 2:30 she said she was so exhausted that she laid down to sleep for a little bit. She and her roommates set three alarm clocks so she'd get up in time. (Guess what she's getting for Christmas) At 8:00 my phone rang and it was Becky...sun coming through the window woke her up but was too late to make her flight. She called Continental airlines and they told her to come in and see if she can get on the 11:00 flight. We'll see....if not, this will be life lesson #348 for her. More later on whether she makes it to North Carolina or not.

Dixie Classic Fair

Yesterday was our day to finish around 3:30. I had heard, from one of our residents earlier in the day, that the fair was in town so we thought that would be a fun thing to do last night.


We weren't really sure where the fair was located but finally stumbled upon signs for it and got there just fine.We had such a good time. The Dixie Classic Fair is in its 128th year of operating and it's like the county type fairs that we have up in Pennsylvania. Livestock, displays, music, home-made items that get judged and awarded ribbons and lots of yummy food. Since we hadn't eaten since lunchtime, we thought we'd just eat our way across the fairgrounds. The big difference in southern style fairs and "yankee" fairs is the food made by the local churches and civic organizations. They DO have hamburgers and hotdogs but then you can get pintos and cornbread, collard greens, chitterlings (what the heck are those ?). Linda and I looked high and low for something in the vegetarian realm (nope, collard greens don't fit in that category) and when we didn't find it, we opted for fresh cut fries. Had a big ole plate of them for starters. Then we hit the funnel cake stand. Later we bought 1/2 a pound of mixed fancy nuts.  Part way through our travels we came up on a small booth where everything was made from apples. Apple streudel, apple dumplings, etc. Since we were pretty full, we decided on a apple cinnamon stick, which was very yummy. Everything in that booth looked and smelled awesome and it wasn't your typical fair booth. It was a local person and everything was home-made. After all of this we were really stuffed but we went by this one booth that really caught our eye. The guy was working over a really huge wok and he was stir frying all sorts of fresh veggies and then he added soba noodles to all of it and soy sauce. The flames were shooting into the air and it was quite a show and it smelled wonderful. Well, we had to try it. It was very good...little salty tasting from all of the soy sauce..but a great choice.

We did do other things besides eat.....we went in the building where the home-made exhibits were. Beautifully made quilts, decorated cakes, 4-H booths, pies and cakes and baking powder biscuits (none that looked as good as my mom's blue ribbon winners) and lots of jams and jellies. The photography entries took up the width of the whole building. It was wonderful to see so much talent. I couldn't believe the eye that some of the elementary school kids had....great shots ! Here is one of the entries by a youngster that I thought was really cute. Shows the patience that our canine companions have for their owners...

We went to the grandstand and heard 14karat gold perform (they were awesome)and then the main attraction came out. The group is called "The Tams" and they were great ! What energy they had....wow, the guys doing the back-up to the lead singer were getting a heck of an aerobic workout. A number of people were dancing near the stage. I'd swear this one older lady was a stripper in her youth....my, she was really putting the moves on. All she needed was a stripper pole out there in the middle of the blacktop where she was dancing and she'd been all set ! And it was all free entertainment too....

It was a fun night out...so glad we got to experience it. 

Relaxing....

Sorry for the lapse in posting. Linda and I have been so crazy busy at work since the other management couple left our community that we haven't had a spare minute. We've been very busy with new move-ins and trying to get their apartments ready so they can move in. This week alone we had four apartments being moved in to and it came down to the wire getting everything done. I was shampooing carpets on my time off to get the one ready and on top of all that we had the President of our company come to visit us on Thursday. When that happens we don't get a lot accomplished because we're talking with him, touring him, etc. and everything else comes to a standstill. I had a tour to give to a family member looking for their father so did not get much time to spend with him. The little bit we did talk was nice. He is a very down to earth guy. Grew up in Binghamton, NY which is pretty close to where I grew up. His grandfather was a physician in Sayre, PA which is where my kids spent their high school years. Linda did a great job of showing him around and telling him about our community.

It's really busy around the campground this weekend. Our rig has been moved to the end of the park, away from our normal spot. There is a Heartland RV gathering here so lots of that particular brand in the park. Next weekend is the Autumn Leaves festival and we've heard that 250,000 people will be in the area next weekend for that. Amazing ! I can't imagine where that many people will stay in the area or what the attraction will be to draw them here. Holy Cow...Mt Airy doesn't seem big enough to draw those kinds of crowds. We probably won't be out and about much next weekend. Last weekend it was Mayberry Days in town and there were lots of people around for that. This year's the 50th anniversary of the Andy Griffith show so that drew a lot of people to town. After next weekend things should quiet down and we'll go back to our regular camping spot.

Weather has taken a drastic turn since the official start of fall. Almost overnight we went from daily highs in the 90's to being in the 70's. We've also gotten a good amount of rain recently...which has been sorely needed. Overnight temps get pretty cool which has made for great sleeping weather. We're loving the cooler, fall-like weather !

Linda and I have been getting our check-ups and such, since it's been a few years since we've done so. I've also decided to go ahead with surgery to the downhill slide my body has decided to take as I've gotten older. Will get it done on October 13th and will be laid up for a while. Will be in the hospital overnight and then should be released to go home and begin the healing process. I'm not a very good patient so will need to find something to keep me busy without it involving lifting or overdoing. (Sounds like reading a book will be in order.)I'm anxious to get the problem fixed....not looking forward to being out of commission for a while. That puts alot on Linda the days that she and I work alone. We're trying to figure out how to get some overlap with some other employees schedules to help her out with pouring coffee at suppertime, etc. Once I get my strength back, I can help her with answering the phone and making my marketing calls. I really like my doctor....he's very thorough and I feel confident that he'll do a great job with the surgery.

Our weekend got off to a wonderful start, on Thursday night, when we got to have supper with our friends Wendy and Cindy...here in the park. They had been camping here this week and luckily we got to hang out with them Thursday night and Wendy fixed pizza for supper. This morning we took them to Sue's Restaurant in nearby Dobson for breakfast. Great food...with great friends ! This was the first time that we've had a chance to see their rig. They have a Newmar Dutch Star and it's gorgeous. We got the grand tour, inside and out. Today is the 1 year anniversary for them owning their rig ! So glad we got to see them while they are in the area. They are leaving soon, for a three week trip to China, but we're going to get together again with them in November when they get back. Looking forward to that !

Well, guess that catches you up on what's been happening with us. Hope you all are having fun with what you're doing !