November 1 - 14, 2021 Routines and A Few Other Items

 Monday (1) Today Steve finalized the doors of the hutch. He had to put the glass back in them. That was a little tedious. I worked on making some follow-up phone calls and assisting Steve where needed. 

Tuesday (2) Today there was more work finishing the glass in the cabinet (hutch) doors. I paid some bills. We were just trying to wrap things up with the hutch. We had supper with Linda and Hazel at la Macarena and then finished our day with TV. 

Wednesday (3) I got up late and poor Steve had been awake since 4:30 AM. I wish he could sleep. Today we did our Walmart run at Stillwater. The price of gas in Stillwater was $2.89. We got home and unloaded all our goodies and had lunch. Later I talked to Pam. Steve & I caught up on our bookkeeping and he also worked on the RV TV for awhile. After he gets frustrated, he comes inside and we relax. 

Thursday (4) We were up and around early today. Steve has his back ablation today. We got on the road as 8:15 and arrived around 9:15. He had to arrive early to get a rapid COVID test - which he passed (negative test). Then we waited a bit and they took him back to the OR about 10;15. I waited and about 11:00 AM he was finished. He said they burned one nerve to the bone (which was very painful)! He said his head came up off the table and a few cuss words. Hopefully this will help his back in the long run. The rest of his day was spent taking it easy. 

Poopsie & Buster all tucked in!

Friday (5) Today we did a few errands around town but not much else. Just routine things. I did fix Chicken Parmesan, Couscous, Salad and Berries for supper. It was yummy!

Saturday (6) I was on the computer this morning sending secure messages to Steve's VA provider. He needs new orthotics. So I requested a referral for those. There are many things to keep up with as a caregiver. We watched OSU (OK State) beat West Virginia! Yea!  Then we took a walk around the neighborhood. 

Sunday (7) After the morning routine was complete we worked in the front yard. I mowed the grass and Steve did some raking. It was looking a little shabby and neglected, so I was glad to get that done. Then it was on to football. Dallas got beat by the Broncos! Darn. 

A beautiful fall tree in our neighborhood

Buster's nose peeking out of OSU Blanket

Monday (8) This morning I was due back at Ponca City for a Follow-up lab draw. So we went there. While we were in town we went to Brace Books to look around. I didn't find anything I wanted to buy for anyone or myself. So we made another stop at Ollie's and picked up some Christmas wrapping paper, which was a pretty good buy. We had lunch back at home and Steve worked out in the RV again. 

Tuesday (9) I spent most of the morning in the RV on standby while Steve worked on the TV connections. I also worked on some laundry. I was smart enough to take my kindle to the RV and I read while Steve worked. Sometimes he doesn't really need help, but maybe just hand him a tool or something. I can do that.

Wednesday (10) I was up a little earlier today so we arrived at Walmart at 8:45. The pharmacy wasn't open yet, so we had to shop awhile before I could pick up my medications. We gathered up the rest of the items on our list and headed home. We were home by 10:15 AM. We did some work around the house and then relaxed. I made it a point to cancel the Dish satellite payment til we hit the road again. Since Steve is having so much trouble with the RV TV setup, who knows if we will even have TV when we go.  

A tangled web is woven!

Thursday (11) 

Happy Veteran's Day! We thank all the Veterans. All Gave Some, Some Gave All!

Steve - husband

JC - Brother-in-Law

My Dad (Hugh)

I found out the other day that a dear co-worker had died. Her name was Jody McGlaslin and I worked with her at the Otoe Tribe. She was a very fun lady to work with. I will miss her. Today was a visitation for her at Pawnee. So Steve & I went and stayed about 30 minutes. Then we drove on over to Dewey, OK and visited my sister, Pam & her husband, JC. We had lunch at a Mexican food place in Bartlesville then it was back to their place to visit. I took a selfie of us, but it didn't turn out great. We left about 3:45 and got home about 5:45. We were pooped, so we hit the relaxation chairs!

Another Beautiful Fall Leaf

JC, Pam, Me, Steve

Friday (12) Today Steve installed the curtains we ordered online from JC Penney's. We don't like them because they are too yellow/gold. The color didn't match what we saw online. Oh well. We will keep them for now, but will also keep looking for different ones. We bought a new small desk for the computer room and we put it together today. I had a four foot long narrow table in there, but it made it hard to get to the filing cabinet. So we traded that out for this smaller desk. After lunch we went to the event center here in town and got our COVID Booster shots. 

Saturday (13) We are carrying on with our routine chores and watching football! I did work on the blog and am now near to getting caught up. OSU won their game but OU got beat by Baylor.

Sunday (14) Today was pretty much the same as yesterday. Dallas beat Atlanta!

Between Ponca City and Bartlesville (near Pawhuska) Are these really nice signs about Osage County. I had Steve stop to take pictures so I could read them later. The Osage Tribe has a designated Osage Trail and there are a few more signs on Highway 60. I am glad we stopped to check them out. 

 

February Is Off to a Good Start!

On Saturday the first of February, Steve worked on the Driver's Side mirror of the RV.  He had worked on it before - but that fix was questionable. He thought the wires might be exposed because it was getting hot. And, he was lucky because the second fix worked like a charm.  We walked the dogs and did a few other piddly things. Sunday we walked at CCC lake and watched the Super Bowl!  It was a pretty interesting game and the Kansas City Chiefs won! Monday the 3rd we went to Stillwater Hospital and he had injections for his back.  Tuesday was cold with a wind chill of 24 degrees about 10 degrees lower than the actual temperature.  It is supposed to be yucky weather for traveling tomorrow, so we drove the RV to Camping World Tuesday afternoon. We are having them install a power awning. It will be so nice to put out the awning with the push of a button!

Wednesday, as predicted, we woke up to Snow! Lots of schools were out for the day. Steve practiced bill paying and we pretty much stayed in the house. Thursday rolled around and Camping World called and said the RV was ready. So we headed to OKC to pick it up. The trip was uneventful and the awning is super! On Friday the 7th, we made a run to Stillwater to get groceries at Walmart.  Saturday, we stayed at home and did a little laundry and putzed around. Sunday I sewed two twin flat sheets together for our bed and we changed the sheets.  What a job!  It takes both of us to change the sheets on this bed. The mattresses have velcro on the bottom. So you have to pry the mattress off before you can put on the sheets.  But we got it done.

On Monday the 10th I made phone calls and we did some laundry. Steve was ambitious and mopped the kitchen floor.  On Tuesday, the 11th, Steve again returned to Stillwater and had back nerve ablation, to decrease the pain in his back. It doesn't take much time - about the same as getting the shots. They use radio frequency with a needle, to burn the nerve ends and block the pain signals to the brain.  They use conscious sedation, so no pain.  He rested after we got home. I took Linda her birthday card - but she has to go to a basketball game so she isn't going out to eat with us tonight. Hazel joined us for supper at La Macarena. On Wednesday - we spent about and hour or so completing a disability update for Social Security. That was tedious but necessary. On Thursday, we took my car to Vance Chevrolet. It was time for the transmission flush. This will keep my powertrain warranty in effect.  I have never done that before.  Funny thing is, it got to be 4 PM and they had not called me, so I called them to see if it was finished. Well, lo and behold, it was finished. They have a program on a computer that was supposed to notify me by text or call - but guess what!  It failed to let me know.  So we got that completed.

On Friday, Valentine's Day, it was very cold it was 17 degrees when we woke up. I didn't feel great so we didn't do much.  Steve bought me some beautiful flowers and  I made him a Key Lime Weight Watcher friendly, pie!  It was great. Our home phone, internet and cell phones did not work from 3 PM to 3 AM.  I get so mad at AT & T. But not sure I am ready to change- because  I hear that Verizon is more expensive. So there is that!  Saturday we got up to much nicer weather and we went to Walmart for groceries and arrived back home before noon. We watched OK State beat Texas Tech in Basketball.  I was happy they won, because I watched them last Saturday and they lost.  OK, that is about it for this little update. We have nothing much planned for the next two weeks except another back ablation for Steve on the 25th.
We are watching for a nice weather window so we can head south. We plan to go to Big Bend National Park and then to Carlsbad, NM and re-visit the three national parks in that area, plus check out Roswell again. The kids will meet up with us over Spring Break and then after a few days, we will head out to Tucson. We signed up to attend the FMCA rally and are looking forward to going.  We have not been to one of their rallies before so this will be a new experience.  They have vendors, seminars and activities.  Can't wait. Hopefully I will have lots of pictures for the blog!