Lindaxtwo

Back in PA

2015-03-26T12:17:00.001-07:00

Things changed in a hurry, once we were gone, and I got a call from my sister that my mom was back in the hospital. That happened right around February 1 so I hadn’t even been gone a month yet. Mom wasn’t eating right or enough and was so weak that she could barely function. The doctor said that it’s what they call a “tea and toast” syndrome. Seniors don’t cook for themselves much, they get run down and wind up in the hospital to get built back up and the cycle continues like that. The doctor said that mom was no longer able to care for herself and needed to either go in a nursing home or someone had to stay with her to cook for her so she’d get proper nutrition. I volunteered to fly back and stay with her. Linda and I had made her a promise when we went on the road in 2007 that when the time came we’d be there to take care of her so she wouldn’t have to go in a nursing home.

I’ve been home for about seven weeks now and I can’t tell you that it’s been easy. Mom can be very nasty, doesn’t like most of what you make for her and I think she has some dementia issues. She got really nasty towards Linda, right before we left, so I don’t know what will happen once Linda returns home. Mom’s short term memory is pretty much shot and she doesn’t listen to anything the doctor tells her to do or not do. She continues to lose weight and she can’t afford to lose much more, since she’s down to 105# now. We have gotten her to drink the Boost drinks, to try and add some calories to her daily intake. She can have all the ice cream and junk food she wants…anything that might put some pounds on her. I’ve had people tell me that due to her age that she has a right to be grumpy or cantankerous. I disagree…I think if God has allowed you to be on this earth for almost 90 years that you should be damn grateful for every morning that your feet hit the floor. He put you here for a reason and it wasn’t to make someone else’s life miserable. Has your soul learned the lesson it was sent here to learn? Have you evolved into a higher level being than when you arrived here? I know one of the soul lessons I was sent here to learn was patience and boy have I been getting a work out in the last seven weeks. LOL

While I have been in Pennsylvania with mom, Linda is still out in Texas working. She hopes to finish up sometime in May and then come back to PA. It’s been really hard being apart. It was just a year ago that we spent six months apart when I went to Indiana to do a farming internship. Now we’re apart for another 3-4 months. But we’ll do what we have to do and honor the commitments that we’ve made.

The weather has been horrendous since I’ve been home. Lots of snow this winter and they are even calling for snow showers this evening. It’s been a very cloudy winter and we haven’t even had any days that resemble spring-like weather yet. My brother is in the middle of maple syrup season and there have been many days where it doesn’t get above freezing so the sap doesn’t run. At this rate the season will continue on into April before we’ll get some warm days where the sap can really cut loose. It’s also been very, very windy and I fear that the bees will have had a tough time getting through the winter. We won’t know until we get a warm spring day and my brother can check his hives for signs of life. Hoping that came through it ok but it’s doubtful.

This coming Tuesday I have an appointment with a dermatologist in the area to get a spot checked out that I’ve been watching for a few weeks. Rather than drive 15 hours round trip to Norfolk to my regular dermatologist, I got an appt locally. That way when they tell me that it’s nothing, I won’t feel so bad. If it is something, I’ll go back to Norfolk to get it taken care of. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

I guess that catches you up on what’s been going on around here. Keep smiling and living life to the max!

LiveJournal Tags: norfolk,nutrition,dermatologist,weather

On The Road Again…

2015-01-12T15:10:00.001-07:00

Yep, we are back on the road. My mom’s health situation seems to have stabilized (at least we weren’t going to a doctor on a weekly basis) so Linda and I are currently in Texas working several parks here. Mom is super stubborn and won’t use her oxygen machine while she sleeps, and doesn’t pay much mind to the doctors so there’s not much any of us can do at this point. She wants to live a quiet life by herself so I will honor that and decided to go with Linda to do the jobs that she had planned to do. I’m doing the office work and Linda B is working with the advertisers. We left Pennsylvania Monday, January 5th in order to get out ahead of some “wintry mix” that was coming the next day. We stopped in Lemoyne to pick up our friend Dot who is tagging along till early March, then started the long drive to Texas.

Usually the weather, in the southern states, is reasonably tolerable and we can boondock some nights in rest areas along the way. It has been bone chilling cold and seems more like we are back in Pennsylvania rather than in Alabama or the Carolinas. The polar vortex (do you remember how much I hate those two words) blanketed a large area of the country and we couldn’t seem to outrun it. It snowed our first night in a campground and we awoke to the white stuff. Consequently the roads were covered with salt, the rig became a mess and the windshield was yucked up with salt and streaks. When we stopped at a Flying J, I was happy to see the long handled windshield washers in the bucket.(the day before I had tried to use the short handled ones to clean the windshield, while hopping like a kangaroo to reach the viewing area. The guy filling up next to me was over 6’ tall and took pity on me and came to my rescue and washed the windshield for me) My happiness was short lived as everything in the bucket was frozen solid….it was that cold out. Bitter cold!

We arrived in Port Aransas on Saturday and are set up in a nice site on the corner of the park. The owner is away on vacation and her front desk clerk quit the day she was to leave on vacation. She picked a woman patron in the park to run the desk while she’s away and we’re not sure if we’re on the site she wanted us on or not but we’re set up and will be here till Sunday. We’re working on four parks in total and will be here till the beginning of February. The weather was horrible when we arrived. Rain and 20-30 m.p.h. winds, then in the overnight hours we had thunderstorms/lightening and 30 degree temps. Today it is still windy though the temps are a little warmer. Other RVers who have been here for a while told us that it’s been really cold and miserable this year. The parks all seem to be busy (with the weather the way it’s been up north…who would want to stay home to experience that?).

Once we finish working on these parks, we will go to the home office for TACO training, then on to the company meeting and then to the northern part of Texas to work on the Texas travel guide. It’s not warm but it’s warmer than back home. Life is good.

A sense of Normalcy Returns…

2014-10-29T14:59:00.001-07:00

It has been a long haul with my mom’s medical problems and she was getting pretty discouraged about it. She’s had a drain line in since she went into the hospital over Labor Day weekend. Finally this past Thursday the doctors felt that it could come off so she is free of it. Yahoo ! Along with that came the daily care of flushing the line, dumping the bag and changing her dressing. It is a big relief to her to not have that anymore but she still has other medical issues such as her weak heart that are taking their toll on the rest of her body. Her ankles swell because her heart can’t pump the blood to her feet and back again so she builds up fluid in her ankles. It has been hard to see her in this diminished capacity and it’s also been like looking at the future me and what my senior years might hold in store for me. If there’s one thing that stands out most of all, it’s that you can’t slow down at all. Once you stop moving, it is the beginning of the end. You need to stay active in whatever interests you and it’s so important to get up and move around. Get physical exercise so that all of your organs get oxygenated.

While all of this has been going on, we did manage to get the RV site put together. We have water, sewer and electric hook ups. The electric came just in time….the temps have been getting pretty chilly around home. This Saturday the forecast is calling for high temps in the low 40’s. Brrr….

Currently we are in Norfolk, visiting Linda B’s kids and grand-kids. I had my four month check-up today for my melanoma and all was clear. There is an excellent dermatologist on staff at the medical school where Linda’s daughter teaches so I am going to her for my check-ups. They did a complete body check (they look at every mole and spot in every nook and cranny on your body….even in your hair) and everything was good. The Dr. said it was really easy to check my skin since I don’t have many spots on my body anyway. I have to have these check-ups every four months for the first several years and then they can go down to every six months. If I’m clear after five years, then I will only have to go once a year to be checked. She said that chances are good that I will have some type of reoccurrence, even it is a basal cell. Since the skin cells have been damaged, from childhood burns, there is a strong likelihood that something else will pop up. The good news is that with basal or melanoma, they outwardly appear and aren’t a hidden cancer, like breast cancer or lung cancer. I’m hoping that her prediction is wrong, because I really don’t want to have to go through any more skin surgeries ever if I can help it.

While I was taking care of mom, Linda went out and worked two parks in New York state and did an amazing job. I have always been the salesperson in the team but I knew that she had it in her to do really well with selling and interacting with the business owners. She said she was petrified at first but she kept remembering what I told her that it’s not about “selling” or “pitching” people. I told her to pretend that she is just talking over the backyard fence to someone and telling them about what our company does and how it could help them in their business. She said she kept telling herself that and it really helped. It must have because she grew the job by over 20% and did an awesome job! She is headed out this Sunday to work two parks in the Lancaster area and work her magic once again. I will stay behind and help mom. Mom has an appointment coming up with the cardiologist while Linda is away that I’ll take her to. Since she’s not driving anymore, I am her chauffeur to town or anywhere she needs to go.

Linda will return to enjoy Thanksgiving with us and then will leave again in January to work on parks in Texas and not be back until May. It will be like going through my internship all over again….being apart for that long but it’s what needs to happen right now. Mom needs me here and Linda will be great on the road. She’ll have Boomer to keep her company. Sometimes life ain’t fair but we do what we gotta do and keep on moving !

Found the Source of Mom’s pain…

2014-09-16T07:56:00.001-07:00

Wow, it’s been a month since I’ve put up a post. A crazy month indeed. I’m writing this while I wait for the home health nurse to arrive to check on mom. Mom went in the hospital over the Labor Day weekend and was in almost a week. I had taken her for her last PT visit on a Thursday. The next day she had a stomach ache and it kept getting worse. She agonized through Friday night but early Saturday morning she called my brother and said she needed to go to the ER. At the Troy Hospital, they determined that her gall bladder was enlarged and infected so she was transported to Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre. There they put a drain in her side, near her gall bladder in an attempt to drain the infection and shrink the size of the gallbladder. Her gallbladder was too large to operate on laproscopically and due to her age and heart issues, they didn’t want to do general surgery. She spent the first half of her time in the hospital sleeping 24/7 and then she started to feel better and all of the pain, she’s been having in her back and side for the last few months, has gone away. She was discharged on a Friday, going home with the drain still in her side. Linda and I were scheduled to leave on that Sunday to work two campgrounds in New York state for two weeks. I stayed behind, to take care of mom and Linda B went to NY, with the rig, to work the jobs. Mom’s drain has to be flushed twice daily, bag emptied and dressing changed. Funny how our roles have been switched. B is really the nurse (an LPN by trade) and I’m the person who does the selling for our business. Now I’m playing nurse and she’s selling for our job. That’s versatility, for sure !

Mom returns to see the surgeon on Monday and we’ll see if the drain has to stay in longer or if it can come out. They also need to determine if she has any gallstones that might be irritating her gallbladder. I’m hoping that her gallbladder will settle down and behave so she won’t need surgery. Not sure her heart is strong enough for that. Right now she is finishing up a 24 hour monitoring of her heart functions. I took her yesterday and they put a heart monitor on her and by the time I finish typing this paragraph it can come off. I then return the whole thing to the cardiologist and they will analyze the results. Hoping for good news.

Besides all of that going on, the excavation to set up an RV site is going really slow. We want to be able to park the RV here when Linda returns this weekend so that we will be close to help mom and keep an eye on her. The water line got put in yesterday but now we need the sewer and electric hooked up. The excavator worked a couple hours yesterday but hasn’t come back today. It’s hard to get anything finished when someone only works a couple hours at a time, one day a week. I just have to keep telling myself….all is well….all in due time.

LiveJournal Tags: gallbladder,Robert Packer Hospital,Troy Hospital,heart monitor,RV

Troubling Times

2014-08-16T08:09:00.001-07:00

Since my last post we’ve had some great visits from family. The first weekend in August, Linda’s oldest son and his family came for the weekend. The kids had a great time with Grammy Linda, riding on the carousel, riding the zip-line and just plain having fun.

Today Linda is with the kids again at Chad’s company picnic, at Knoebel’s Amusement Park. Should be a great day to make more memories with the grandkids.
On Thursday of the next week, my daughter arrived from Boston to spend the weekend. Jay, my son, arrived at 5 a.m. Saturday morning after working till 11 Friday night. Jay and his girlfriend Kelly didn’t get much sleep because we had to be in Elmira, NY at 10:30 for Joel’s burial. It was the first time that I’ve seen Joel’s daughters in a lot of years. Sad that it was under such sad circumstances but great to see them. From the left: Lisa, Liz, Laura, my son Jay and daughter Becky and Anne.
Joel was buried next to his infant son and is in good company. He’s in Woodlawn cemetery where Mark Twain, Ernie Davis (first Black Heisman trophy winner), and Hal Roach (producer of Laurel & Hardy and The Little Rascals) are buried. The cemetery has been full for quite some time so it didn’t come as a surprise when Liz called that there were no vacancies. The family thought they would have to resort to having Joel buried in Erie, where he grew up and where his mom and dad are buried. Liz called again at a later date and lo and behold there was an opening and it was right next to Joel’s son. We were all beyond shock. We continually get little reminders from Joel that he is with us. On Friday Becky, Linda and I went to a couple yard sales outside of Mansfield. We had been talking about Joel, and the fact that he’d be happy knowing that he’s in the same cemetery as Mark Twain, right before we pulled up to two particular yard sales. As I was looking around, at the first one, there was a small drinking glass that told about Mark Twain and that he was buried in Elmira where he wrote many of his books. Of course Becky had to buy that little glass. She and I walked across the lawn to another yard sale and there staring us in the face at the first table was the book, Huck Finn. We laughed and knew that Joel was clearly with us in spirit that weekend. We couldn’t leave the cemetery that day without paying a visit to Mark Twain’s gravesite.

Many of the Langdon family members are buried in the area around Mark Twain. Someone had placed a cigar and lots of coins on top of Twain’s grave. For many years, when you’d visit the study that is located on Elmira College’s campus (the little building that was moved from Twain’s house on the hill and where he spent time writing his books), Joel’s voice was the narration that came out of the machine that told of Twain’s life in Elmira.
Although it was a sad day, there were many things that made us smile.
Monday morning Becky left to drive back to Boston; then around 1:30 I got a call from my sister-in-law that mom had fallen. Mom went out to get her mail, out of the mailbox attached to her porch railing. She fell back and hit her head and had a palm sized lump on the back of her head. Edie drove her to the ER and Linda and I met them down there. For the past two weeks, I’ve been taking her twice a week to physical therapy. The doctor wants to try and strengthen her legs and improve her balance. Luckily she only had a small hematoma but lots of bruises all over her body. They sent her home and I spent the night with her to make sure she was ok through the night. Linda and I have decided to set up an RV site behind mom’s house so we can be close to her to keep an eye on her. We made her a promise when we went on the road, eight years ago, that we’d take care of her when the time came for that so she wouldn’t have to go in a nursing home. We can only stay, here at Bucktail campground, till the end of October so we need to have someone hook up water, electric and sewer and put in a driveway so we can get onto the site. I used to live behind my mom, back in the late 80’s, so the connections are capped off under the ground, from when I had a mobile home there. There’s no pad anymore or driveway because my mom put a one car garage on the gravel bed that I had for a driveway so you can’t get back to the old site without putting in a new driveway. We’ve gotten some prices and hope to have work start soon. The sooner we can move to my mom’s, the easier to check on her and be close to take her to appointments. Last week she had an MRI to try and figure out what is causing the pain in her back. She’ll learn the results of that on Monday. It’s hard to see your parents get to this stage in their life and harder, I know, for my mom to accept these changes. She told me the other day that the hardest thing is not being able to drive. She always liked being able to get in the car and go wherever she wanted to go. Now she has to count on others to take her and I know that is tough for her and a loss of her independence. Tough times ahead for sure…

Happy Birthday Mom !

2014-07-26T13:33:00.001-07:00

Today is mom’s 89th birthday. She hasn’t been feeling well lately. She has a lot of pain in her back and can’t stand for very long. Since we’ve been home, we’ve taken her to the doctor’s several times to try to get to the bottom of her pain and she has another appointment next week where they might fit her with a back brace. Her family doctor said that she has severe scoliosis of the spine and the vertebrae are twisting around and causing the pain. In a recent trip to the ER we found that she has an old compression fracture in her back so that probably isn’t helping either. Since we’ve gotten back to the area, we’ve taken over mowing her lawn for her. She has about an acre of grass to mow and bouncing around on the mower was not helping her back at all so we told her we’d do it for her.
My mom has always had a green thumb and loves the flowers that she has around her house. Linda and I weeded out the front bed and mulched it really well so that the weeds won’t be so bad for her, since she can’t bend over and work in them anymore. It’s tough to see her in so much pain and not know how we can help her. Tomorrow she is going to the casino with my sister and we’re going to have a surprise waiting for her when she gets back. We drove by this gardening place today and stopped to look around. They had this lily that has huge, dinner plate size blossoms on it and the greatest fragrance. We bought it and a purple butterfly bush to put in an empty spot that mom has right off the deck where she can see it. She hasn’t seen many of her flowers this summer, that are out in the yard, because she’s afraid to walk out there by herself…for fear of falling. This way she can see it from the deck as it blossoms and it is loaded with blossoms !
Mom thought that a new, adjustable bed, would help her get a good night’s sleep so she bought one and the guys delivered it and set it up. I think she’s spent maybe two nights in it since she got it. It’s too hard for her to get in it and get situated where she’s comfortable so she just spends her nights in her recliner. I hope that the doctor can figure out something for her this next week that will get rid of the pain and make it easier for her to get around.
Linda and I have been busy the last few weeks. We’ve trained two different teams since being home and they are now out, working jobs and doing great. One couple is originally from Pennsylvania and the other couple is from Texas. We love helping these teams get a great start on their new career with AGS and seeing them do well. We feel like proud parents that send their kids out into the world to make their way.

Today Linda had to help out at the Grand Canyon Marathon, working a water station at the first stop. I went along to help out. She volunteers with a group called Haven of Tioga County, which is a group for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. There were 600 runners signed up for today’s race but I don’t think they all showed up. Today it was a half marathon of 13.1 miles and tomorrow is a qualifying event for the Boston marathon with about 200 people running 26.2 miles. We had to get up at 4:30 and be in Wellsboro at 6:00 a.m. but we were all done by 8:00. It was a fun morning.

I guess it’s been a while since I’ve put a post on the blog. The week of July 4th, we took the rig up to Seneca Falls for Linda’s family get together. It was great to see everyone…some I hadn’t seen some for over a year. Last summer I had gone to Terra Haute, for my organic gardening internship, and didn’t have a chance to see many of Linda’s family. The weather was really hot and humid the first few days we were there and then we got a break and the temps dropped back into the 70’s and was very comfortable.

Some of her relatives only come to visit once a year so it’s a special time for all of them to get together. Lots of great memories were made this summer…..
My scars keep healing and getting better. I rub some of the bee bar, that my brother gave me, on them each day to help to soften them. In the near future I’d like to go to a massage therapist and see if she can help the numbness and nerve pain. The pain has gotten much better but just the feel of material on my underarm sometimes is really irritating….just the feeling against my skin. I want to make sure that the tissue is really healed up well before I go but I think it would be beneficial. We are staying in Mansfield, at Bucktail Camping Resort, for a while so that we can be close to mom and help her with errands and appointments. She hasn’t driven since she fell at the end of May and has had frequent doctors appointments to try and get her pain under control. Life goes on and we’re rolling along, taking what comes. We’re thankful to have time with family and enjoy life.

Two Weeks Post Surgery

2014-06-22T05:35:00.001-07:00

I apologize for the delay in getting a post on here to let everyone know what the pathology report said. Most of you heard it on Facebook but the surgeon called and said that they got all of the melanoma in my arm and the two lymph nodes were clear. Wahoo ! Tears of joy flowed from Linda and I as Dr. Nicole gave us the news. We were just pulling into our campsite from visiting mom so I was really nervous and wanted to get the car parked, not knowing what emotions I might have when I heard which side of the coin the news came down on. It was all glorious and all our prayers paid off.
I asked the doctor about the numbness I have in my armpit. It’s such a weird sensation (or lack thereof) to rub on deodorant and not feel what you’re doing. She said, “Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that you might have some areas of permanent numbness”. Wow, that’s a big side effect to disclose. She said that most of the feeling should come back but when nerves get cut, it’s hard to tell what areas will stay numb. The numbness I can tolerate…I mean, cause well I don’t feel anything there. The part that really bugs me is the nerve pain that starts about 2” from my elbow and goes almost the whole way to my armpit. It’s been really hard to explain to Linda what it feels like so she can maybe offer up suggestions for what might make it feel better. Then one night, I thought of the perfect analogy.
When I was around 12 or 13, like most pubescent girls, I was starting to get that downy hair on my legs. While it didn’t bother me, I knew that most of the other girls in my class were shaving their legs so I thought that was something I should do. I asked my mother one day if I could start shaving my legs and she said “no”. Well, it must have been at that early age that I adopted the philosophy of “Don’t ask permission, just beg for forgiveness later” (which I’ve used extensively ever since). My mom had one of those clunky, steel razors that when you twist the handle, the razor compartment doors lifted up to reveal the blade inside. I remember being mesmerized by the action of opening and closing that thing. To a wide-eyed young girl like me, it was like gull wing doors opening on a Delorean sports car and it seemed so cool. Knowing that this was back in the early 70’s, it was not a head pivoting, contour following, aloe gel covered, triple action blade razor like we now have. One blade in a fixed, non-forgiving stainless steel instrument. Those weren’t gull wing doors on a Delorean sports car. They were more like Bilco doors on a damn root cellar. So I found myself in the bathtub and this was the day that I would take that rite of passage of clean shaven legs. With that razor in my hand, I started at my ankle and drew it, in one fell swoop, up to my knee. I wouldn’t have to worry about fuzzy legs for quite some time, because that maiming device in my hand had removed every hair follicle from my ankle to my knee. You know that pain you feel when an area of your skin has been ripped raw and is exposed to the air ? That’s what the nerve pain on the underside of my arm feels like. Linda gets it now and I think, like the numbness in my armpit, it will just take a while for it all to settle down and heal. I don’t remember my mothers reaction at learning I had disobeyed her in regards to my attempt to shave my legs. Without telling her, it was pretty evident by my raw shin. I hope that she gave me some lessons on the fine art of doing it but that was many moons ago and I really don’t recall. But I do remember what the pain felt like and now I have a modern day connection to my past. How special is that ? LOL
In other news, we are spending a lot of time at mom’s house. I took her to the doctor earlier this week, because she still has a lot of pain in her hip to knee area. They x-rayed her and nothing is chipped, broken or cracked. They gave her the usual shot she gets in her hip and she’s feeling better most days. We have to remind her to do things in small batches. If you clean the whole house in one day, chances are you’re going to feel it the next day. She is really frustrated that her body is not keeping up with what her mind wants to do. I know how she feels.
Last night Linda and I went to dinner with a group of friends that I haven’t seen in maybe 15 years. It was so great to see familiar faces (I had trouble remembering names) and catch up on what folks have been doing. They are going to try and start getting together each month so we’re hoping that we can be part of that.
We are training a new AGS team this week, here at Bucktail. Anxious to work with Tim and Cindy and get them off to a great start. Hope everyone has a great week. I know we will….every day is such a blessing when you don’t have a serious health concern hanging over your head. I feel very blessed !

One Week Post Surgery

2014-06-12T18:55:00.001-07:00

LiveJournal Tags: Bucktail Camping Resort,melanoma,Mansfield,surgery

I don’t have a whole lot to talk about but figured I would give everyone an update. We arrived in Mansfield, Pa on Tuesday and got a campsite at Bucktail Camping Resort. We stayed here a couple times last summer when Linda spent time with her grandkids. Linda did all the driving to get here…all 1700 miles from Aurora, CO. Although I wanted to help her do the driving, it was probably a good thing that I didn’t. I unhooked the car from the rig, while Linda checked us in, and just carrying the hitch into the garage of the rig made me get really woozie and I had to lay down so I wouldn’t faint. I get tired quickly but don’t nap cause I have a horrible time getting a good night’s sleep. The area directly under the incision, on my arm is that numb, ouchy feeling like you get when you wake up in the middle of the night and realize your foot or hand has fallen asleep. Linda and I were just talking about what might be causing it cause it’s driving me crazy. I was trying to do some stretches to see if the muscles are tight, etc. to alleviate it and then it hit us. We can see on my arm where they had to pull the skin together, where the melanoma spot was, and the skin in that area is really tight and it’s directly under there where the numbness is. Just wrapped too tight, I guess. See I knew there’d be an explanation for it. Just don’t know how to loosen it up. I think the numbness is easing up….just not quick enough for me.

I can’t get over how lush and green it is here in Pennsylvania. We had gotten used to so much drought-stricken areas out west that this is such a stark contrast to all of that brown backdrop. It’s also been raining ever since we arrived so it’s getting super green and super lush. Our site is nicely shaded and has a beautiful, tall shag hickory tree towering up through the tree canopy. It’s just gorgeous and so majestic ! Boomer is having a ball exploring different parts of the campground as we go out for little walks. They are calling for more rain tomorrow but the weekend is supposed to be perfect so tomorrow night the peace and quiet we’ve experienced these last few days will be replaced with the squeals of little kids and their families. The air will be filled with the smell of campfires and camping will be in full force. Since this campground has so many rides and amenities, geared towards children, the daily rates are quite high so it is pretty quiet during the week. There are many seasonal sites here and that is what draws families to come here from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. They can leave their work behind and get away with their families for rest and relaxation.
Tomorrow it will be one week since my surgery. The doctor said that it would be 5-10 work days before the pathology report would come back on whether the melanoma has spread to my lymph nodes. We’re hoping that we will hear sooner, rather than later and that we get the “all clear” message to resume life as we know it. Until then, I’m trying to “hang loose”, rest and get my strength back. I thank everyone for their prayers and good wishes. Keep ‘em coming…..the biggest speed bump is yet to come.

Surgery

2014-06-08T08:41:00.001-07:00

After 2 hours in the operating room and 3 hours in recovery, the surgery is all done and we’re on the road. My day started out with a small dose of radioactive juice injected near where I had the melanoma spot. The tech rubbed the area to get the juice moving. Then they slid me inside of this machine and they took a 2 minute long picture which shows the juice moving to the closest lymph node area. It could have gone to either my neck or my armpit. The radioactive juice goes to a sentinel node, which is the node responsible for draining. The two ladies who were working on me were super nice and there wasn’t any pain whatsoever in what they were doing. They put a little screen to the side of me so I could see what they were seeing. Linda was in the room with me the whole time. She was the official photographer of the events of the day. They took a total of 3 pictures and on the last one, one of the ladies reached in and marked with a marker where they thought the sentinel node was.

Here’s my scarlet letter.

We finished up with this stage and then we had to wait till 11:30 for the surgery so we had several hours to kill. A couple friends of ours (Thank you Bobbie and Nancy) had suggested that we ask the parking crew and see if they had any RV hook-ups so we could bring the rig and stay there, if need be. They have 2 hook-ups but the guy said it might be a little tight because they are in a regular parking area. He suggested that we park in Lot 6 because the one side was blocked off to have the striping done. So Friday morning, we drove the rig to Lot 6 and parked in the empty lot. Once the radioactive test was done, we went back to the rig to hang out.
At 11:15 we went back across the street to the hospital and my surgery prep started at 11:30.

Debra (as seen in this picture) was my nurse and she is also the charge nurse, responsible for all of the nurses in the day surgery area. Super nice lady ! And she gets an A++ for her putting in the IV line in the back of my hand. That is one of the things I hate the most about surgery cause it hurts when they put it in. Not when Debra does it. So slick…Debra was explaining to us that Univ. of Colorado hospital is a “magnet” hospital, which means the nurses have a big say in what goes on in the hospital. They are not slaves to the doctors, like in most hospitals. The nurses have meetings with the doctors about the care of patients and there are pretty stringent guidelines that have to be met in order to have this distinction and UOC has gotten it for the last 4 years. We’ve been really impressed with the hospital staff and their style of healthcare.
Here is their mission statement….

My surgery was scheduled for 1:30 but another surgery got put in the schedule so I didn’t go until about 2:45. As Dr. Nicole explained to us, once in the ER she would use a small Geiger counter to locate the radioactive juice. She then inserted a blue dye that would get absorbed by the sentinel node and let her know which one to take out. She actually took 2 nodes out of my armpit and then proceeded to remove any cancer cells that were around the surgical site on my shoulder. Here’s what I wound up with. The cut on my arm is 4.5” long and the one under my arm is about 3” long. All through the process, Linda could track my progress with a color coded system that showed her what stage I was in. My patient number was 142787 so she could watch the monitor in the waiting room to see what was going on.

Here’s the status board patient’s families can track their progress throughout surgery. It’s a really cool system.

My body does not do well with anesthesia. They gave me a anti-nausea patch behind my ear before the surgery and four different meds in my IV with anti-nausea medicine in it but none of them did the trick. They gave me a couple of these dandy barf bags, which I thought made for great hand puppets (they were empty at this point). Finally I was discharged around 8 p.m. and one of the nurses put me in a wheelchair and took me all the way to the rig. What awesome customer service ! We had hoped to get on the road right after surgery but I was in too much pain to tolerate any bumpy roads. we decided to spend the night in the parking lot and we got on the road at 7:30 on Saturday morning. The worst pain is under my arm, since it’s in such a tender spot. I’m surprised how low the incision is….really close to the top of my left breast.
Linda is doing all the driving because just the act of holding the wheel would be very painful to me. I’m in charge of taking naps and doing a whole lot of nothing. Since our bedroom is in the loft, we’ve been pulling out the sleeper sofa so I can get in and out of a regular bed. Much easier than trying to crawl on my hands and knees to get into the loft. Linda drove 500 miles yesterday and we stayed at a truck stop last night. We have 1200 more miles to cover to get back home, in PA. We are in a waiting game again for the pathology report on the lymph nodes they took out. Could be up to 2 weeks before we hear if they got it all or if I will need more treatments. I suspect that if the cancer is found in the lymph nodes, then I will probably have a scan to see if the cancer has gone to any other part of my body. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that they got it all.
Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes that I’ve seen on Facebook and on our blog…it means a lot. I’ll keep you posted as we hear more. Enjoy the rest of your weekend ! I think I hear the couch calling my name so TTYL.

Joel Would Be Happy

2014-06-04T15:45:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, when we arrived at the Flying J, we filled up with gas and propane and then I unhooked the car from the rig. When everything was filled up, I moved the rig around back to a quiet part of the parking lot that was behind the store. This wasn’t part of the usual trucker area, but an area where the “bobtails” (just the truck part of the combination)could park. Like I mentioned in my last post, another motorhome was parked there so I backed in next to them.
That evening we had supper inside at Denny’s. When we were filling up with gas, we had noticed a young man and his dog, hanging out in front of Flying J. He wasn’t panhandling or anything…just looked road weary and hot. His dog looked like my son’s dog; like he might have some Rhodesian Ridgeback in him. The man had a huge pack on his back, but was very clean and well kept. We didn’t give much thought to this duo and thought maybe they were catching their breath and getting ready to hit the road.
When my son called me around 3 a.m. that his dad had passed, we were up for the day. A couple hours later we went into the store to get something to eat and found this young man and his dog, sleeping under a small tarp on the sidewalk, around the corner from the entrance to the store. We could see the dog’s paws sticking out from under the tarp and knew he was curled up next to his buddy, getting some rest before setting out the next day. It broke our hearts to see this and it stuck with me as we walked back to the rig.
I waited till I thought that they were awake and went out to talk with the young man to see what his story was. I had filled a large zip-lock bag with dog food for the pup and grabbed a couple treats from Boomer’s container. As I approached the young man he was walking around in almost the same spot we had seen them sleeping. The pup had a rawhide toy that he was playing with. I asked the young man where he was headed and he said he was going to Wyoming to visit some family. He had spent the winter in NY and was hitchhiking up to the Cheyenne area. He was hoping to get a job driving truck. He was very polite and humored this mom’s questions of “do you have money”, “do you have food” and “what do you need”. He said that he needed socks so off I went into the store, hoping that Flying J stocked something so basic but knowing that they aren’t exactly a Wal-Mart either. They did have a 6-pack of socks so I bought them and took them back out to him. I gave him the dog food and he started re-arranging his backpack to find room for it. He said he wanted to get over to the TA truck center because that was on the route he needed to go north on. He had pulled a muscle walking so many miles the day before and was trying to rest up a little before heading out again. The heat of standing out on the highway for several hours had taken a toll on his dog so it was good that they stopped for the night. Once I came back to the rig and told Linda about our discussion, she went out and asked him how far it was to the TA plaza and he told her 7 miles. She loaded him and his dog into the Xterra and headed out to take them up the road so they could get a start from the TA. She said he was so appreciative of the ride and she gave him $20 to give him a couple meals for the next leg of his trip.
It was a small interaction but one that we felt really drawn to, that sad Sunday morning. My heart was so heavy for Joel and my kids but I know that as generous as Joel was, for all of his life, he would be proud. Joel spearheaded the campaign in the Sayre/Waverly area in 2011 when so many homeowners were devastated by the flood. Times when I would chat with him or exchange e-mails, he was helping someone rebuild this or that and the rebuilding continues until today. He served on the Salvation Army board and loved everything that he did with them. The Valley Business Alliance was such a huge part of his life and he so loved to help others in any way he could. He never asked for anything for himself and got by with so little. His heart was so full of generosity and compassion for others. He played Santa Claus for many years at the Sayre Theatre and this year he sent me an e-mail of an interaction with a child that touched him so deeply. When he asked this particular little boy what he wanted for Christmas the little boy teared up and said, “Why can’t everyone just get along ? Why can’t everybody just love one another?” I’m not sure that Santa had an answer for that little boy but I can almost guarantee you that Joel gave that little boy a big hug before he climbed down off his lap. He was very moved that something like that would come from the lips of a small child. Things like that touched him. Joel was very sentimental and not a Mother’s Day would go by that he didn’t send me an e-mail and thank me for Becky and Jay. He loved all of his kids and grand-kids so much and felt that they were such a blessing to him. I think that blessing flowed the other way too….they were blessed, for too short a time, but blessed nevertheless with a father who was such a great role model of love, selflessness, compassion and friendship. He will be greatly missed but his legacy lives on in them and in all of us, should we decide to help our fellow man. What do you want your legacy to be ?

It’s A New Day….

2014-06-02T08:47:00.001-07:00

We awoke to a beautiful day, here at Cherry Creek State Park, in Aurora, CO. Linda and I took our morning coffee outside to enjoy in the cool temps. Our site is very nice, siting on top of Good Rush Loop, where we can overlook many of the sites that sit lower in the loop. Boomer has been enjoying being outside, hanging out on the patio or laying in the gravel. He’s such a mellow dog and that is probably due to him being 14, although you wouldn’t know he’s that old except for the gray on his face. There are two big, black and white birds that must have a nest in the tree next to our site and they must view Boomer as a threat to their babies. He’s trying to be a good neighbor but one will sneak up behind him and peck his tail, when he’s laying outside the rig. Once the bird has done that, Boomer will take a little hop toward the bird and it will retreat. This bird will do that even when we are sitting out there within 6’ of this bird. It’s kind of funny to watch but I think Boomer is growing weary of it. Maybe the bird thinks that Boomer is his big brother (they do have the same coloring) and just wants to play.
We were able to check in here yesterday, around mid-day, after spending Saturday night at the Flying J, just down the road from here. We were actually parked next to another couple, who is a few sites from us here, who were also waiting to come to Cherry Creek. Our reservations have us leaving on Friday morning but since my surgery is Friday, the campground manager has agreed to let us move to an overflow spot on Friday. We’ll have to check out on Saturday and I’m hoping that I feel well enough to travel so that we can start the drive back home. If we have to hang around for a few more days, for post-op, we’ll have to find another campground in the area. We’ll see what Friday’s surgery entails and go from there.
I’m trying to stay positive and upbeat for my surgery but we had some terrible news yesterday and it’s been really hard to deal with. My daughter and son have been taking turns, going to be with their dad, who had triple bypass surgery back in PA. Becky spent the initial week with Joel during his surgery and hospital stay. Jay spent this past week with his dad and early Sunday morning Joel had to go back to the hospital and something went horribly wrong and they couldn’t stop or reverse it. Jay called me around 3 a.m. to say that his dad had passed away. It was a horrible shock when he seemed to be well on his way to recovery. Jay and his older sister Liz (from Joel’s previous marriage) got to be with Joel when he passed. He was so loved by all five of his kids as they have traveled to spend time with him during this whole ordeal. Joel adored all of his kids and his grandkids and has left a really big void in their lives with his passing.
Joel was very involved in the Sayre/Waverly business community, serving on many boards and felt very strongly about giving back and helping others. Joel spent his life in TV and radio and retirement did not slow him down at all with all of the charitable work that he did. Here is one of this morning’s front page articles that appeared in a paper back home, that goes into more detail about his work with the community. Joel played Santa for many years in Sayre, with his natural white beard and jovial manner. Joel and I have been good friends over the years, since our divorce, and Joel has always been a part of our family’s holiday functions. I feel very conflicted about being so far from home during this tough time in my kids’ life but they have told me that I need to focus on my health as well and that I need to take care of myself. I know they will get through this but it’s tough for all of us nevertheless. Please keep them in your prayers as they go through this really tough time. I know he is still very much with us in spirit and always will be. Rest in peace Joel….you were loved and will be missed.

Oncology Visit

2014-05-30T18:02:00.001-07:00

Today was my appointment with the oncologist at the University of Colorado, in Aurora. When I was told that I would be meeting with Dr. William Robinson, his name meant nothing to me but Linda recalled working with a doctor by that name at the cancer center in Williamsport. Linda worked there, doing PRN (as needed) nursing before we went on the road. Turns out that this Dr. Robinson didn’t work in Williamsport but his son, also an oncologist, currently works in Chambersburg, PA, where Linda B is from. How weird is that ! We chatted about a whole bunch of things after that. He was born in Breckenridge (where we are currently staying) and he told us how his dad was part of the mining crew that created all the huge piles of gravel and stone that you see along the river as you drive towards Breckenridge. He asked if we’ve tried panning for gold in those stone piles and that there are also a lot of red stones that you’d find there. I can’t remember the name of the stone but it was a fun chat regardless.
He was a super nice guy and we were so impressed with the whole experience and all of the staff. First off, no fussing about where to park or having to hoof it to get to the correct building. You pull up in front and they have free valet parking. You get out in front of your building and give them the keys to your car and go to your appointment. We were about 20 minutes early by the time we got to the Oncology dept. but we probably didn’t wait more than five minutes and we were taken in. After a couple minutes in the exam room, Dr. Robinson stopped in and introduced himself, asked if we needed anything and said that he would return in 5-8 minutes. I don’t think we waited more than 5 minutes for any of the services we needed to get. We were really impressed with the level of service and the courteous staff !
We learned some interesting information about melanoma today. According to Dr. Robinson, you get melanoma when you are a youngster and your skin is growing and stretching, etc. and you are exposed to high doses of sun and get burnt. With multiple exposures like this, the scene is really set for a later onset of melanoma. The fact that I had basal cell is a strong indicator that I could get melanoma at a later time (I was never told this with my basal cell). I had been told that if my basal cell came back (which is not common since basal cell does not spread in the body like melanoma does), it would likely be near the original site. Constant exposure to sun can lead to squamous cell carcinoma, which again is not a spreading cancer, but another form of skin cancer. He asked me a lot of questions about occupation, childhood and ethnic background, which is a big pre-disposer to whether someone gets melanoma. He said brown haired, northern European descent people are at higher risk. He also talked about northern European people (I’m PA Dutch – German as far as I know) having webbed toes and I thought he was joking but then he said to the resident who was working with him, “see how her little toe is more connected to the one next to it”….Before you start getting visions of a mermaid or something fishy, I don’t have webbed feet. LOL Can’t swim….don’t especially care for the water so no marine mammal connection there. Bottom line is if you have young kids, grandkids, etc., make sure you get a good SPF lotion on them before they are outside for any length of time. All kids have recess or outside time at school, so put it on them before they get dressed in the morning. It’s no wonder that melanoma numbers are skyrocketing, when you think about my age group and our lack of sunscreen growing up. Let’s give the next generation a better chance with this deadly disease. Too many young people are getting melanoma and it’s something they will have to be checked for the rest of their lives. Once you get it, it’s not going to go away. You have to be vigilant and keep an eye out for new spots or problems.
Dr. Robinson checked me all over my body for another primary site and none were found. I had a chest x-ray done and blood work drawn (6 tubes). Some are for a bunch of tests he wants to run and some is for a research project I volunteered to participate in. Dr. Robinson is trying to identify markers for melanoma since no blood tests exist that can detect it. He will use participants blood and tissue (from when I have surgery) to see if he can find correlations that will help detect melanoma early. He checked (with his hands) my liver, kidneys and lymph nodes in my neck and armpits and did not detect any lumps or growths. He said that if melanoma spreads, it typically goes to the liver, kidneys, brain, or lymph nodes.
The next phase is surgery next Friday. I will have a pre-op meeting, with the surgeon (not Dr. Robinson) next Thursday and surgery will be at 1:30 on Friday. They will inject a radioactive tracer and follow it to see where it goes and then dye will be put in, near where the biopsy was done. The dye will be followed through the lymph system to see if the dye shows up in any nodes. If it does, they will remove any node that is colored by the dye. He said years ago they used to remove all the lymph nodes but they’ve learned that it’s stupid to do that and they don’t do it anymore. They only take out the ones affected. If the melanoma is found in the lymph nodes, then there will be more scans and such because that means the melanoma has spread. The spot at the bottom of this picture is where the punch biopsy was done and where melanoma was found. That is 6 mm across in size. The mitosis rate, from the pathology report was 3-4 mm, which he didn’t like. This number means how much the cells are duplicating. They like to see this number at zero. The basal cell surgery, that I had done in 2007, is the long scar above the melanoma site. The basal cell spot was the size of a pencil eraser and was in the middle of this scar line. In order to get all of the tentacles of the basal cell, they had to cut a lot of tissue out, hence the long scar line. While I tend to like things that match, I don’t want matching scars. A small incision would suit me just fine next Friday.
Tomorrow we leave Tiger Run Resort and we’ll move down the mountain to the Aurora area. We spoke today with the state park, near the hospital, about our reservation and the upcoming surgical date. We could only get a site for Sunday – Friday but the woman in the campground office said that they might be able to put us in an overflow site. We don’t care if we have to move between sites, during our stay, but we really would rather not have to leave the campground for the weekend, then come back in again. She said that people, in the Denver area, book sites 6 months out and book Friday – Sunday, for the whole summer, so that‘s why nothing is available. She was very helpful and I think we might be able to get the extra nights that we need for our stay. The doctor, doing my surgery, leaves on vacation for a week after my surgery so not sure when we’ll get the pathology results or when we’ll have a follow-up visit. When Linda was stressing to Dr. Robinson that we needed to get this taken care of quickly, because of our work and RV lifestyle, he promptly told her that this was about “Better, not quicker”. Highly skilled surgeons, who deal with melanoma do the surgery (they have 4 of them) and he isn’t one of the surgeons. They have to proceed in a manner to make sure everything is looked at and considered because as he said, “We’re talking about her life….this isn’t something that can be rushed.” We’re not used to being slowed down and told to wait. We’ve had busy work schedules, for quite a few years but his advice put things into perspective. Do it better, not quicker…

Indiana Revisited

2014-05-29T07:38:00.001-07:00

I brought something home from my six month internship that I hope will get resolved in the next week. At some point during the latter part of my six months at White Violet Center, I noticed a spot on my left shoulder that seemed similar to a basal cell carcinoma that I had removed in 2007, before we hit the road for our new gypsy life. When I talked to Linda at one point, I told her to try to remind me to show it to her when I would see her again in February. Since it was in a spot where I couldn’t see it straight on, I could only feel it and it seemed scaly, but with a little thickness to it.
When Linda did come to get me and things weren’t so crazy, I showed it to her. We decided to take a picture of it and monitor whether it changed or not. We knew, that as busy as our work schedule was, we weren’t able to get our annual check-ups until we got back home in September. From what I could feel, it had the scaly feel of the spot I had in ‘07 so I didn’t think much about it. We worked the upper portion of Texas from Mid-March until the beginning of May, moving every week or less to a new campground. When we finished that assignment, we had planned to stop and visit friends in Alamosa, CO on our way to Breckenridge for our next job. I had tried to schedule an appointment with a doctor in Alamosa, when we knew that we’d be heading that way, but the doctor was booked up and I couldn’t get in. While we were visiting our friends in Alamosa on May 9th, we were driving around town, taking pictures of Flat Stanley with local attractions. Flat Stanley is a paper cut-out of a little boy that was sent to Linda by her grandson, in Norfolk, VA for a class project he was doing. We took Flat Stanley to the train display in town, the display of the Great Sand Dunes and other things we thought would be cute to photograph him with. As we drove down one of the streets, on the way back to our rig, we went by a Community Clinic and Linda said “hey, a clinic…let’s see if they can take a look at your spot”. I went in and there was no one at all in the waiting room. The doctor came out and I showed him my spot and told him I thought it was probably basal cell, like I had before and told him briefly my history with basal cell. He said he didn’t think it was basal cell but looked more like melanoma. I think my heart stopped for a minute, then rose to my throat, because I knew that melanoma was a much nastier cancer to deal with than basal cell. Basal cell typically doesn’t reoccur, once it’s removed, and it doesn’t spread in your body. Needless to say, I was a little scared.
At this point I think it important to know my history of sun exposure. I grew up on a dairy farm and most of my summers were spent sitting on a tractor seat, raking hay in the fields or working with my brother to unload the hay wagons. I don’t recall that we used sunscreen but I do remember getting burned many times as a kid. Later on, when I was no longer working in the fields, I did like to go to the beach on summer vacation and lay in the sun. I’m sure this history of sun exposure is what has lead me to this outcome. Melanoma is the 2nd fastest growing cancer for women, with lung cancer being number 1. It’s number one for men and a cancer that is really getting out of hand.
Back at the doctor’s office, Dr. Ed removed the spot with a 6 mm punch and sent it away to be analyzed. Knowing that he thought it was melanoma, made the next week a long one for the diagnosis to come back. On the 15th we learned that they thought it was melanoma but they had sent it on to the Univ. of California for more analysis. More waiting…..This past Friday, the 23rd we got the pathology report and it is melanoma…Clark Level 4. When we got the initial report on the 15th, the doctor who called us with the news said that we needed to make a decision on where we wanted to go for surgery (they will need to make a wider excision to make sure they get all the cancer out of my arm) so we started researching facilities near us and called our friend Cindy, who also has melanoma. She was a great source of information and strength for us, as we were pretty scared at this point.
I know this has been a long story about the whole process but where we are at today is that we have an appointment tomorrow at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. They are one of 41 premiere cancer centers in the country and they also specialize in melanoma. Tomorrow’s visit will be to generate a treatment plan. We’re hoping that we can get the surgery scheduled for early next week. In the meantime, our work continues but we’re really up in the air about what happens over the coming months until we know how extensive the melanoma is. If they cut it out and get everything, we’ll hit the ground running and keep on keepin’ on. If there’s something more extensive, that involves more treatment, we will head back to PA to get those treatments done.
For all my sun loving friends out there, please use sunscreen but more importantly check your skin for spots that don’t look normal. Over 80,000 people will be diagnosed with melanoma this year. Go here to get the signs of what abnormal spots look like. Finding those spots and getting treatment can mean the difference between life and death. I debated about whether to share my health scare on our blog, since I’m a pretty private person and don’t put my health stuff out there for all to see. But I also feel that if my story can help one other person to take better precautions in the sun or to get a funky mole checked out, then it’s worth it. I’ll post what we find out at the doctor tomorrow and what the coming weeks entail. In the meantime, I’m asking for a positive collective conscientiousness for a good outcome. Whether that means prayer, good vibes, well wishes or whatever in your book….send them my way.

Amazing Technology

2014-05-15T07:51:00.001-07:00

Wow, saw this article on CNN.com this morning and wanted to share it. I’ve always had a huge fascination with solar energy, having studied and done reports on it all through high school. This article was neat because this man took a boy-hood dream and has turned it into a reality. Not only would it provide more energy than our country could possibly use but no more snow or ice on the road or power lines. I, for one, would love to see snow plows and salt become a thing of the past.

Life Reimagined

2014-05-11T18:58:00.001-07:00

Wow, I just stumbled upon something that I had completely forgotten about. Back in September, shortly after Linda dropped me off at White Violet Center for my internship, I got an e-mail from our financial advisor. He had been contacted, through his Cambridge Financial Planners group, by a woman who wanted to do an article on a couple who had given up their house and a “normal life” for an RV lifestyle. Ross immediately thought of us and in his e-mail asked if we’d mind being interviewed. We said it was fine so he made the connection. Although I knew the writer was doing it for AARP, I thought it was for a new magazine they were publishing but I was mistaken. Apparently it was for a new on-line site that AARP has developed, called Life Reimagined.
Long story short…..a woman called me while I was out in Terra Haute, at the Sisters of Providence and asked lots of questions. Back in December or so, we had gotten a call to verify some of the info, in the article, which apparently they didn’t write down the answers to because I picked up a child I didn’t know I had and “B” lost one (easy to do on paper I guess). I had found the website a few months ago and bookmarked it and just now while I was going through my bookmarks looking for something else, I saw the site and went to it. To my surprise I found our article, which was put out there in February. Here it is, if you’d like to read it….http://lifereimagined.aarp.org/stories/5691-At-Home-on-the-Highway

LiveJournal Tags: AARP,Life Reimagined,Cambridge Financial Planners,White Violet Center for Eco Justice,Sisters of Providence

Wichita Falls

2014-05-03T20:37:00.001-07:00

We’re on the move weekly, covering sections of Region 2 in Texas. Our region covers from the Oklahoma border down to Alvarado, west to Abilene and east to the Arkansas border. We had been staying at The Vineyards Campground, located in the town of Grapevine. The park used to be owned by the Army Corp of Engineers but is now owned by the city of Grapevine. It’s a very nice park with lots of space between sites and most all of the sites face the water. The water level is currently down 10’ but it is still very pretty around the lake.Then we moved to Grand Prairie, which is only about 30 minutes from Grapevine. We stayed at Traders Village for a week. Traders Village is a giant flea market with a bazillion vendors offering all sorts of things. We’d never been there so we were anxious to see what it’s like. We walked from the campground to the flea market, next door, about 9:00 a.m. and the vendors were just getting set up. We didn’t get to see much cause nothing was set up yet. Our only purchase was a bag of freshly made kettle corn that a woman was making in a big copper kettle. We ate some of that and walked back to the campground. to break camp and leave for our next park. We’re currently in Wichita Falls, in the northern part of Texas. It was really hot today and it’s supposed to be 98 degrees tomorrow and 100 degrees on Monday. Texas is in a heap of hurt in regards to the drought. The other night on the news it said that many areas were now in “exceptional” drought status, which is the worst category. We heard that of the three reservoirs that serve Wichita Falls, they only have 24% of the water they should have in those reservoirs. Wow, that is scary stuff. Texas and California are both in really dire straits with their water situation. I hope that municipalities in these two states mandate water conservation measures on new home construction. The worst is yet to come for drought conditions and whether you believe in climate change or not, the reduction in water in some areas is a reality that these people have to live with.
It’s hard to believe that in about a week we’ll be up in Breckenridge, CO working and that our time doing TACO sales will be over. The time sure has flown by and we’ve met so many great campground owners and managers. Being in the campground business is really hard work….as one owner told me, “It’s the hardest thing you’ll ever do”. You have to be available at all hours of the day and night to take care of your customers. When the wi-fi goes down at 2 in the morning, who ya gonna call ? It’s been awesome to hear from these owners about their businesses and help them with the marketing for their business.
Our car is acting up again. The engine has been making a ticking sound for about a week so we took it to the Nissan dealership, which was on the way after leaving our last park on Friday. Next door was the Ford dealership and Linda took the motorhome there to get the oil changed and tire pressures checked. Her appt went well….mine not so much. At first they told me that the replacement engine that Linda had put in back in November was bad. They said the lifters were clattering and that was the sound we were hearing but they would further assess it and let me know the extent of the problem. I was not a happy camper. I needed an oil change so they went ahead and did that; then said that the ticking stopped. So their conclusion was that the gasket or seal in the oil pan is leaking and the loss of a little oil was causing the lifters to be noisy. Long story short….we sat there for 7.5 hours with no decision on whether the warranty on the engine would pay for a new seal so we said…Forget it…we’ll keep an eye on the oil…and we hit the road. Two hours later we arrived here in Wichita Falls. We know that we need to get a newer vehicle but since anything new would need all the stuff installed to be able to tow it (braking and towing brackets), I don’t want this type of decision to be made in haste so we’re going to try to keep an eye on it till we get home this fall and then maybe we’ll be ready to get something different. Keep your fingers crossed that she holds up over the next few months. I’ve got faith in her that she can do it !
Hoping that everyone is enjoying springtime. Not sure that it has arrived yet back home in Pennsylvania. Seems every time I talk to my mom, it’s really chilly and rainy there. Linda and I did have some sad new in the last ten days. Jay and Kelly lost the baby that she was carrying. It was hard to see babies and cribs at the flea market last Saturday, when I had just heard that my new grandbaby had died but I trust that God had bigger plans for that little Peanut. I know that things happen for a reason, and sometimes for no reason at all, but as they say, the things that don’t kill us….make us stronger. Our hearts go out to Kelly and Jay….may their love grow stronger as they come through this together.

Pittsburg, Texas

2014-03-30T15:54:00.001-07:00

We moved yesterday from Tyler and are now staying at the Barefoot Bay Marina and Resort in Pittsburg. Our site is next to Lake Sandlin, which is a cute little lake. The temps today are in the 70’s but the cool breeze makes it seem a little on the chilly side. I will take it over the snow and sleet our families are having back home. Hard to believe it’s the end of March by the way the weather is acting back east. We spent last week training a new team for our company and had a great time getting to know them. They are super excited about the opportunity ahead of them to travel the country, while working with campgrounds, providing the important service of creating guest guides for the campgrounds. Deb and Gavin picked up all of the info really quickly and Deb is going to be an awesome sales person. We took them out for their graduation dinner, to a place called Clear Springs Seafood and the food was amazing. I had fried shrimp and it was cooked perfectly. Linda had catfish and it was also very good. An appetizer that we ordered was called “Stingers” and it was a jalapeno (it wasn’t hot) and it was stuffed with shrimp and catfish, lightly breaded and fried. They gave us home-made ranch dressing to dip it in. It was really, really good. The prices and service were great and it’s certainly a restaurant I’d go to again. We look forward to working with Deb and Gavin in the coming year to grow their business and get them off to a great start.
Last week we got together with Cindy, who I volunteered with at White Violet Center and had lunch with her. She is in Texas visiting family before returning to Minnesota where she is a minister. We had a great time catching up about her last month at White Violet. I was sorry to hear that there is another alpaca who is dealing with what appears to be the meningeal worm issue. So sad to hear about that and hope that it turns out well for her. It is the same alpaca that laid down and couldn’t get up easily, on my last day at WVC.
This coming week we’ll be working in the northeast corner of Texas….in the Texarkana area. It’s neat to travel to all of our member campgrounds and talk to them about their marketing needs and what changes they’ve made or are making to their campgrounds. I really enjoy chatting with them. One of the ones I went to this past week does a lot of wedding receptions in a large, cedar barn they have at the back of the property. What a gorgeous facility ! White lights strung across the rafters and chandeliers hanging from the beams. It was a truly magical place to hold a reception and with that country charm. So neat to see the creativity of these entrepreneurs and the things they do to set themselves apart from others. Linda is going in with me too, which has been really fun. She does the paperwork and jumps in to help with the marketing pitch. We make a great tag team !
Hope everyone has a great week. Don’t get suckered into any April Fool’s day pranks on Tuesday….stay sharp !

LiveJournal Tags: White Violet Center for Eco Justice,Clear Springs Seafood,Barefoot Bay Marina and Resort,Texarkana,April Fool's Day

On The Move In Texas

2014-03-16T17:42:00.000-07:00

We finished our training at the home office and are now traveling throughout the northern part of Texas, called Region 2, and working on the Texas Camping Guide. We arrived at Mill Creek Ranch Resort on Friday. This RV park is gorgeous....wide sites with lots of green grass. Last night bad storms went through the area and we got over an inch of rain. We'll be staying here, in Canton, Texas, till March 22 and then we'll move to the Tyler area. We work in Region 2 until around May 10 and then we'll be heading to Breckenridge, CO to work an RV resort there that we've done for several years.
Our summer schedule changes drastically after Colorado. The team that was going to do parks across Alaska this summer left the company for another opportunity so we are going to take their schedule. Wahoo! We're excited to be going to Alaska for three months. I was there in 1995 but have wanted to take Linda there to see the magnificent scenery so now we get to do that and work while we're there.We'll get back home to the east coast to see our families around mid-Sept.
We also got great news from my son recently. He and his

girlfriend are expecting my first grandchild. There's gonna be another place setting at the Thanksgiving table this year. LOL...Kelly's due date is October 29, which is the day after my birthday and two days before my grandmother's. Woohoo ! Exciting times ahead in our work and in our family.

Busy Time For Us

2014-03-09T09:58:00.001-07:00

Once Linda picked me up we started the trip to Texas. I didn't realize it until I did some research but we would be in close proximity to the Crater of Diamonds State Park. This is the only diamond mine in the US that is open to the public where you can go and dig for diamonds...real diamonds. This was something I really wanted to see so off we went...There is a 37 acre field where you can dig, sift, screen, etc to your heart's content. Every so often they plow the field to bring more diamonds to the surface.
This area was home to a massive volcano ages ago that brought the crystal beauties to the surface. You can find clear white, yellow and brown.

The diamonds aren't all that elusive either (although we didn't find any). More than 700 diamonds are found each year and someone had even found one the week before we were there. They have a gorgeous RV park and splash water park there which makes for an awesome family getaway. So if you ever get to Murfreesboro, Arkansas, be sure to go check it out.
Our next stop was Austin, Texas. I needed to do some training with another one of our teams so we joined up with them west of Austin for a few days. Last Friday we left there and went to Montgomery, TX for our annual company meeting. It's like a family reunion as we get to spend time with folks we usually only see once a year. Lots of hugs and laughs from Monday to Thursday. When we arrived, we called a local RV mobile tech because our outside shower was leaking and our inverter was not supplying power to the rig while we were traveling. We couldn't run the water pump, receptacles or anything that usually would run off the inverter. Power was going TO the inverter but wasn't going to the rig. Turns out one of the 12v breakers, under the front steps, was shot. This isn't the type of breaker as in the electrical panel but one that can usually be reset if it trips due to low load when the batteries are low. Junior replaced the outside shower and breaker but it didn't fix the problem. Turns out the solenoid that tells the battery disconnect to turn on and off was not working so the batteries were not charging. We had to stay an extra day till Junior could order the part but on Friday, around 2, we hit the road for Rockdale, TX.
While I was doing my internship at White Violet Center, you may recall that I did my project on aquaponics. One of the farms that is big into aquaponics is located in nearby Cameron, TX and had a farm tour scheduled for yesterday so we signed up. Sand Creek Farm participates in a CSA program but they have four high tunnels and in three of them they do aquaponics. They grow many vegetables outdoors in the ground but they grow a lot of specialized things indoors, where they grow super fast and virtually free from pests. He grows a whole lot of Asian greens that I had never heard of before and he said they grow really well in an aquaponic environment. Onions, that typically take 100 days to grow in the ground...he grows them in 8 weeks. The seeds are started in a vermiculite/coconut coir mixture in little net pots (bottoms have a lot of openings in them to let water in). The pots sit in cut outs in the foam board, that is floating on top of the water in the troughs. You can see the fish tank in the background behind Ben i this picture on the right. He has silver sheets of rigid insulation around the tank and on top of it to keep heat in during this cold snap that Texas is having. The basic concept of aquaponics is that the fish poop, which provides the nutrients that the plants need. The fish poo water is pumped into the troughs where the vegetables grow and the plants extract all the waste products, creating clean water that is returned to the fish tank. Cool, huh ? It's a symbiotic relationship of raising healthy fish and vegetables in a closed loop system. In our country over 60% of our fish come from China, which has sometimes had unscrupulous practices when it comes to food production. Wouldn't it be cool if we could get enough aquaponic farmers in this country so that we could provide our own sources of fish. Ben uses Perch and Tilapia in his tanks but there are many other types that can be used, depending on what temperatures you hold to have in your system. In cold climates, trout would be a good source because they are a cold water fish.
During our tour, we also got to see his cheese room, where he produces Havarti and Gouda cheese. Look at those beautiful wheels of cheese ! The cows that he milks used to be wild, free range type of cows and he would have to round them up and lasso them to bring them in to milk them. They are now accustomed to being milked so it's not a rodeo every time he needs them to come to the barn at milking time. I can't even imagine how wild a time that must have been. He also makes yogurt and had a batch in the oven when we were there. It was a really neat farm and there were 42 people on our tour. It was raining lightly while we were touring and once we got home, it really started to pour and continued through the night.

Linda eating Red Russian Kale that Ben picked out of the garden. She loved it !

As I finish up this post, we are rolling down the highway towards Waco. We should arrive in Keene around 1:30. Time enough to get set up, get some lunch and settle in for NASCAR. Tomorrow morning we start our training at home office. We're excited to learn new things and work to develop the northern region of Texas. We feel great things are just over the horizon. Nothing's gonna stop us from going full steam ahead !

Linda Arrived !

2014-02-16T14:01:00.001-07:00

It wasn’t a quick fix to get the steps on the rig so they would retract. Nothing, that $425 won’t fix. The motor that runs the steps going in and out was shot. It didn’t have very much power so it had to be replaced. They ordered the new motor on Monday and it came in on Tuesday morning. Linda also noticed that there are several cracks in the fiberglass and the RV guys said sometimes that happens in the cold winter weather. What’s with that ?!? Not happy at all about that and today I looked and there are even more from her drive out here. Not acceptable for a rig that is 28 months old ! I will be contacting Thor about that.
Linda got on the road about 11 a.m. on Tuesday and kept on driving until she arrived here a little after 10 p.m. It was so great to see her. We got the rig settled in the back parking lot and Boomer is staying over in the White Violet Center, in Tracy’s office. She has a dog bed in there and he’s happy as a clam. We go over and spend a lot of time with him in the evening and work on fiber projects.
On Tuesday, Linda jumped right into learning all sorts of stuff. She’s learned how to skirt fiber, how to felt soap, how to wind the yarn I spin and put it into a ball of yarn or make it into a skein. She’s made some felted items, using the cookie cutter molds and is getting three batts of fiber ready (which means she knows how to card fiber too) so Sister Moe can show her how to wet felt a hat.

Felting Soap

Winding Yarn

Winding a skein of yarn

She is a fast learner and says she is having lots of fun. Today we went to the barn and helped Tracy do chores. She learned how to scoop alpaca poop and feed them. I have my last morning alpaca duty tomorrow so she will work with me all morning and then we’re going on a field trip out to the guy’s farm who bought a bunch of White Violet’s alpacas. It’s time to trim their toes and give them their deworming shot. BTW we got the preliminary necropsy report and Mariah did have the meningeal worm. She also had pneumonia and something going on with her spleen. Now they know what they are dealing with as they head into springtime weather and the possibility of lots of slugs this summer. It’s scary that four alpacas here were affected by this and Tracy has heard of several other area farms who have had the same thing with some of their alpacas.

Linda’s trying to learn lots more by the end of the week and then we leave here on Saturday. Coming down the home stretch….5 more work days to go and then we’ll be hitting the road again !

The Circle of Life

2014-02-08T21:08:00.001-07:00

Today was my last evening shift of checking on the alpacas before I leave White Violet, on the 22nd. Sadly, Mariah has not improved and Tracy has decided that it would be best for Mariah to be put down since she can’t live the way an alpaca should be able to live. The vet will come on Monday and put her to sleep and then she will be taken to Purdue so a necropsy can be performed to find out the cause of her illness. Today her body temperature has been low and you can tell that she doesn’t feel well. She isn’t eating or drinking and is pretty lethargic; just laying in her stall and not moving around at all. Tonight I put her on a heated dog pad to try and make her more comfortable and it did raise her body temp a tiny bit from early this afternoon when I checked it. I hope that she leaves this life on her own terms before Monday and will find Schroeder in a grassy field somewhere over the rainbow bridge where they can run and play. She needs to be at peace after being sick for a while now.
This afternoon was the nuno felting workshop. It was a lot of fun. To get started, lay a long piece of bubble wrap (bubbles facing up) on a table. The first step is to take a piece of silk and lay out the fringe pieces on each end, letting about 1.5” overlap onto the silk.

I chose black silk and purple for my accent color. Next, you take your fiber in wispy little sections and cover the silk, extending over the sides of the fabric and onto the fringe (all of the elements need to felt together so that is why you overlap onto the fringe). You want to make sure the whole thing is covered but you can’t lay it on too thick or it won’t felt together.

Then the accent color is laid on; again in wispy streaks on the fiber, making sure to go out onto the fringe to make it all cohesive. Using warm water and a tiny bit of Dawn, in a squirt bottle (see in the foreground), wet down the project using zig zag motions up and down the table.

Lay another piece of bubble wrap (bubbles facing towards the fabric) on top. Wet the top of the bubble wrap and rub gently to start the felting process. Remove the bubble wrap and fold in your sides to make a nice straight edge. Rub a little bit more to help felt it. Gently fold it all up and flip it over. Cover the blank side of the silk with wispy pieces of fiber, not worrying about the edges since you covered those on the front side. Put your accent colors on again to cover the backside.
Wet the top of the fabric and place the bubble wrap over it and wet that down. Start to rub the surface and check again to see how your edges look.
Now you take a rolling pin or a piece of swimming pool noodle and roll your project onto it. After about 150 rolls inside a towel (to catch all the water that comes running out from inside), it’s almost done. Twenty throws onto the table and then you head to the sink to rinse the soap out of your newly felted scarf. Some tying of the fringe and steaming to finish it off and you’ve got the finished product.

It’s hard to see the coloring on mine (on the left) but you can see how pretty Cindy’s turned out. Cindy is a Methodist minister, from Minnesota, who is here until March. She works with the alpacas and wants to go back to Minnesota and create a farm where non-violent offenders, who are released from prison, can learn new skills and become productive citizens again upon their release from jail. She’s learning to spin yarn with me and wants to learn how to weave too.
The scarf is so lightweight, only weighing around an ounce and it makes a gorgeous, wispy accent piece to wear. Our instructor makes material and creates jackets, using nuno felting, and sells them for $900. Scarfs, like we made today, sell for $60. It was another neat craft to learn about and I’m glad I got to attend the workshop since it filled up so quickly. They have enough people on a waiting list to run another workshop soon. Debby, the instructor, currently has 98 alpacas on her farm and she dyes a lot of her fiber and uses it in all of her projects. Wow, that would be a lot of alpacas to care for, shear and deal with the fiber (keep in mind you get two bags of fiber each time you shear. A blanket fleece and the 2nds so that’s almost 200 bags each spring when she shears.)
Cindy and I continue to spin and this week we learned how to ply two balls of yarn together. Here’s Cindy taking a skein and making it into a ball of yarn so it can be plied. I can’t wait to make something out of the yarn I’ve spun. The initial yarn, when you learn to spin, is chunky and often referred to as “art yarn” since we were inexperienced when we did it. Once you refine your spinning skills, you can get the strand pretty thin and much more consistent. I find it very therapeutic to spin but don’t think I’d ever buy a spinning wheel due to the price and space they take up. I’m still hoping to get a loom at some point but want to work with it some more to decide the size that would be best for us.
Time for bed…so anxious for Linda to get here with the rig so I can see her. It’s been 4 long months since I last saw her ! She was going to leave Sunday morning but this afternoon she couldn’t get the steps to retract so she has to take the rig back to the RV shop Monday morning and hope it’s a quick fix so she can get on the road. Hopefully she’ll still get here on Tuesday….please pray that she has safe travels from Pennsylvania to Indiana.

Spinning

2014-02-02T12:16:00.001-07:00

Last week I learned how to spin so I’ve been working on trying to get the technique down. Although Candace told us not to look at the yarn we’re producing (Cindy is learning with me too), Candace said that it looks good. Here is a picture of the loom room. My spinning wheel is the one on the left. We moved the spinning wheels into this room because we needed to get them out of the way for an Alpaca 101 class that they held yesterday. They had a great turnout for the class…one of the attendees came from five hours away. So, I continue to work on my spinning technique so I can create my first skein of yarn.
I finished weaving another scarf. Here is where we trim the fringe and lay our items to dry, after washing them. This area is in the same room as the looms.

This is a commercial loom that someone donated to the center although I’ve never seen anyone work on it. The building where all of these looms are located is in the back of the White Violet Center and it used to be the laundry for the sisters. All of the items would come here to be washed in a commercial laundry area. All of the equipment was ripped out and the sisters are now responsible for doing their own laundry. There are two laundry areas on each floor in the building where I live, as do many of the sisters. One of the sisters must be responsible for putting out fresh towels in the rest rooms cause if I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, there’s a fresh towel there. I swear there’s a towel fairy that works hand in hand with the tooth fairy, making evening rounds.

“Seconds” of fiber, from the skirting process that are located in the fiber room.

The skirting table and the bare shelves where “blankets” of fleece are usually kept. We have all of White Violet’s blankets done. We’re now working on some fiber that was donated to the center. We spend a lot of time on snowy days, sitting around this table skirting fiber.

The brick building, on the right, is the White Violet Center. You can see the smoke stacks of the big furnaces for the complex in the background and the steeple of the church in the left corner.

Sister Ruth was hired to do a portrait of a family’s pet donkey. This was done by felting fiber onto a wet felted base material. She did an awesome job making it look just like the photo that they sent.

I’ve entered two photos into the National Alpaca photo contest. Once all of the entries are in (deadline is 2/18), then I believe the photos all go up on the web for folks to vote on them and the ones with the most votes, from each category, will be printed and sent to Harrisburg, PA (how appropriate that the contest will be back home) to be on display at the National Conference this year and a judge will pick the winner in each category. Wish me luck !!
Not much else going on. I’m on “close” duty this week so in another hour I’ll be going out to check the alpacas water, hay, minerals and condition of the animals. We check to make sure they are all set for the night and Mariah will need to have her physical therapy where we hoist her up with the sling and pulley and exercise her back legs while the weight is off them. She didn’t do so well with it this morning, not wanting to stand at all or put weight on her legs. Hopefully she’ll do better this afternoon.
I think it was last week that I had a really profound and powerful moment, as I was sitting in my room. I was working on the pink scarf on the loom and looked over at my bed. When I packed stuff to come here, I packed an afghan that my grandmother had given me many years ago that means a lot to me. I brought it in case it was cold in my room. On top of that blanket I also have a small lap blanket that my mom made recently because I was freezing a few months ago when the weather started to get colder and I couldn’t get warm. I also have the shawl, that you’ll recall my sister made for me that I wear around my shoulders when it gets chilly. I saw all of these things that great women in my family have made for me and it really struck me (it’s making me cry just to write about it). As hard as my grandmother and my mother tried to teach me, as a kid growing up, how to crochet or do “crafty types of things”, I could never “get it”. Back then my fine motor skills were way better than they are now. I seem to be all thumbs and have no coordination at all now and I’m not sure what that is all about. But I have learned to weave and I’m learning to spin and I’ve learned to felt and I felt a really strong connection to these wonderful women in my life that have done this stuff for so long. Pardon my pun but I felt like a fiber had connected all of us with a commonality that I’d never felt before. It was a strong epiphany for me in that moment and something I will always cherish about what the people here have taught me and given to me.
I hope your week is a powerful one and one full of inspiration and love ! May you find a connection to something new or rekindle a connection to something forgotten. Make the most of the week in front of you.

Polar Vortex

2014-01-29T07:41:00.001-07:00

These are two words that I have come to hate recently. Last night was my first night back in my room since last Wednesday. I have been house sitting for my boss since last Thursday night and this bitter cold (wind chills in the –15 to –25 range) are really tough on older homes. I awoke Tuesday morning to no water in the whole house even though I had been letting the water drip to try and prevent a freeze-up. I got to spend time with Thea too, walking her and feeding her. She is a very sweet and obedient dog and about the same age as Boomer. Since I haven’t seen Boomer in three months, she was a nice stand-in for a few days to give her some lovin’.
The cold and ice is tough on the alpacas and they don’t like to come out of their shelters when it’s bitter cold or snowy. I had alpaca duty Monday morning and as I was opening the gate so Cindy could pull the Kubota into pasture 2, I slipped on a patch of ice and fell hard on my back, whacking my head a little on the ground. Cindy poked her head out of the Kubota and asked if I was ok and after getting up and moving various body parts, determined that nothing was broken. I had a headache for the rest of the day and my low back and hips were achy but it seems that the many layers of clothing that I had on, absorbed the shock to my body. As Cindy said, “ You fell really even.”
Mariah’s physical therapy is progressing and yesterday she stood for about 20 minutes on her own. The sling and pulley are working great to take the stress off of our bodies to pick her up. She will need to get to the point of being able to get up on her own to have any quality of life, as an alpaca, so that remains to be seen if she can regain enough muscle strength to do that.
Finished more mug rugs and a scarf. I love the colors in the scarf, purples and pinks (although I’m not a pink person). It’s made from alpaca yarn so it will be super warm and soft.
We have a bunch of workshops coming up in the weeks leading up to my departure. Today is our spinning workshop. Friday we have a alpaca showing workshop where we learn how to prepare your alpaca for the show ring, what the judges are looking for and ring etiquette. Next weekend is the nuno felting workshop, which I’m looking forward to. It was part of the three day workshop last weekend but the whole event was cancelled due to low enrollment. Lots of fun, educational events coming up.
Linda dropped our rig off at an RV repair place, near her, to get some items taken care of before we hit the road again. When I was home for a few days end of October, I had put some Stabil in the gas tank to get it through the months of sitting. As soon as I did that, there were really strong smells of gas in the rig; so much so that it was setting off the carbon monoxide detector. I chalked it up that maybe I had gotten some fuel on my clothes but I had been really careful and it’s not a sloppy job to take a little container and pour it into your fuel tank. Turns out a mouse had chewed a hole in our fuel line, right near the manifold,in the engine compartment. The guy at the garage said that Linda was extremely lucky that it didn’t catch fire on her way driving to their shop. I will thank the cold weather and short drive for that miracle and Linda having an angel on her shoulder. The reason that our furnace hasn’t been firing is that the computer board is shot so that’s another $295. I hated to answer my phone cause every time the guy called from the garage it was ka ching – ka ching. I guess that the final bill will be close to $1000 but our home will be safe and ready to hit the road.
The car, with its’ new engine, is acting up and is in another repair shop in Chambersburg. It’s getting 10 miles to the gallon and skipping and bucking so that needs to be checked out. We are really hoping that it’s a little tweak and not a big repair. Keeping our fingers crossed. Say a prayer to the god of all things mechanical for us, if you would please.
For more positive news…Today it will be in the 20’s, which will feel immensely warmer than it has felt in the last two weeks. Hope everyone is staying warm and safe. Enjoy the rest of your week, wherever it may find you.

Winding Down…

2014-01-19T08:18:00.001-07:00

It’s hard to believe that there’s just a few more weeks left to my internship. My project is done and I presented it last week. The director said I did an excellent job and is actually going to present it to the Council this week. She believes that there is merit to many of my recommendations and would like to see them implemented. It will be interesting to see what response she gets from the council members. I spent several months putting the report together….it took tons of research. Glad it’s off my plate.
Yesterday there was an herbalism class at the White Violet Center. We covered teas, infusions, decoctions, herbal oils, tinctures, salves and creams. We were told what they are, how they’re used and how to make them. It was really neat info. We plucked the flower petals off of calendula and echinacea so Robyn (our instructor) could make a tincture with them. Tinctures are so expensive to buy ($15-20 for a tiny bottle) but are so easy to make and they last forever. Tinctures extract alkaloids and resins from a plant that a water infusion won’t extract. Robyn made a salve from comfrey, lavender and calendula and we each received one to take with us. It smells wonderful and I’ve been using it as lip balm. There are a variety of uses for it, based on the several different ingredients that are in it. We also made a rose water based skin cream that had cocoa butter and shea butter oil in it and it turned out great. We used lecithin as the thickening agent, which is derived from eggs. All of the workshop participants, except the interns, got a sample of the skin cream to take home. Fun class…learned a lot and hope to do more of it. For any herbal tea drinkers out there, cover your cup and let it steep for a few minutes to capture all of good stuff that is otherwise escaping. It will do your body good !

Mariah isn’t doing very well. She is the focus of our attention for the next month to see if we can get her legs working. Tracy will be rigging up a sling and pulley system so that it will be easier to get her up on her feet and leave her there for a period of time to see if she will regain strength in her legs. If she has support to hold her up, then when her legs are fatigued, she won’t fall down but will be gently held up till she feels she wants to try and stand again. Plus, it will be easier to do some range of motion exercises on her while she is being held up. The alpaca standing outside her pen, in this picture, is Finesse…the matriarch of the herd. She’s the oldest female in the herd and as you can see, a caretaker of the herd. If she is hanging out with an alpaca, at the outskirts of the herd, we need to see what is going on because she is a good barometer for the overall health of the alpacas.
The weather has been goofy this week. The other day there was only a 20% chance of snow and no call for accumulation but it snowed all morning and we wound up with about 4” of snow. Yesterday we got a little bit more so it’s white and crunchy around here again. The chickens don’t like it and tend to stay in their coop and the alpacas don’t graze when the ground is covered so all the animals get a little cranky. Speaking of cranky, last night was my last night on alpaca “close” duty (I’ve been on it for two weeks straight so now I have two weeks off till it do it one last time) and Mariah got a little testy last night when I went to pick her up. She spit and got me on the side of my face, hat, and sleeve of my coat. When alpacas spit at each other, it’s really foul smelling, green stuff. If an alpaca gets spit on in the face, it locks their jaws and they can’t close their mouth for several minutes. It’s kind of funny when it’s feeding time and one gets spit at and then tries to eat but they can’t close their mouth and the food falls right out. They sort of look like alpaca zombies standing there with their mouths hanging open. I don’t think Mariah had time to get all of the stomach juices pulled up into her mouth before she spit at me cause it wasn’t near as foul smelling as it usually is….it just smelled like she barfed on me. It still required washing everything I had on and a shower for me when I got back to my room. The joys of animal husbandry!
Still working on some weaving projects. I made three mug rugs and another scarf, although one of my warp threads broke and the tension got really weird and it didn’t turn out well. My yarn order arrived so I’m trying to experiment with some things while I have a loom to work with. We have Monday off, for Martin Luther King day, so I will put that to good use weaving and getting our tax info ready. Oh joy !
Hope everyone has a great week !

Snow and Cold

2014-01-05T09:23:00.001-07:00

The snow started early this morning and it’s really coming down. I went out walking cause the whole campus is so pretty, although the snow is a little deep once you get off a sidewalk or roadway. The temps are tolerable today but overnight the temps are supposed to plummet and the wind chill will get really brutal. They are saying that tomorrow’s wind chill will make it feel like 35-45 below zero. It’s gonna feel like we’re living in Alaska. I’m prepared though….I went to the office and bought an alpaca ski mask and gloves. I am on alpaca “close” all week and work tomorrow morning with the alpacas. I should be able to get everything but my eyes covered up so that should protect me from the bitter cold. This snow is a really wet snow, unlike what we got the other day that was super dry and fluffy. We already had about 5” on the ground and they are calling for 6-12” by the time it’s done. It was mid-way to my knees in the fields when I was out earlier. Just got a text from the garden manager that we need to go out periodically and brush the snow off the greenhouse and high tunnels so the weight of the snow doesn’t make them collapse. That will keep us busy till the storm is over.
I put the finishing touches on my scarf. I had to tie off the fringe and weave in the loose ends where you start and stop with different colors. Then you soak it in hot, soapy water….being sure to not agitate it because that will felt it. After it soaks for 10 minutes, you pull it out, change the water to clear, hot water and let it rinse in the water (still no agitation) for 10 minutes. If it still has soap in it, repeat the process again. After it’s been washed and rinsed, you blot it between towels and then lay it out flat to dry. I’d love to get a small rigid heddle loom and continue to weave. Will wait till we get back on the road and have some income coming in. In the meantime, I’ll use a loom here for the remainder of my time here.
Well, time to get ready for lunch and then go outside to work in the snow. Hope everyone has a great upcoming week. Stay warm and dry !