Family Visitor

Things have been going along ok.  Our nephew/God son is still with us and fighting very hard to stay that way.  We really thank his mother, brother, father and wife for keeping us in the loop.
Saturday morning was busy.  First a breakfast of pancakes, sausage, peaches, orange juice and coffee complements of the park for all the women.  The guys had to pay but that's ok cause they'll have a guy appreciation breakfast later on and we'll have to pay.

I'm jumping ahead. First came a phone call from one of Ron's brothers, Eddie.  He drives truck cross country for Allied Van Lines and was in Tucson dropping of cars but didn't have to be at his next drop off in California till Tuesday so we'll have a house guest.

Then another brother, Greg, called to let us know that Greg's other son, Gregory, wife, Bethany, was in Tenn with her mother who is on DNR.  Poor Bethany, her and Sean are good friends and then her mother too.  Please keep her in your prayers.

So Saturday afternoon I made lemon squares from fresh squeezed lemons and stuff peppers from the peppers Ron brought back from the food bank when he went to help out.

My lemon squares were declared to sweet so I packed them up and took them to the dessert auction at the Rec Hall.  I felt I needed to come home since we had company but I sure wanted to stay.  One of our neighbors made cream puff swans and I saw a beautiful chocolate bunt cake I'd have loved to bid on.  I hear they made about 750 dollars so that's good and Carl, as usual, was cooperative with the auctioning off of his dish washing services.

Ed brought a movie for us to watch on Saturday night but it was blue ray and we don't have blue ray cause we don't watch movies.  So we watched it off his laptop.  Sherlock Holmes.

This morning it was off to Jerry Bob's on Broadway for breakfast.  We decided to skip church so we arrived earlier than we normally do and boy oh boy was it crowded.  Had to wait for a table.
Then we decided Ed would like to see San Xavier del bac so off we went.  I think he did appreciate it's beauty cause he took lots of pictures.   Then down 19 to Green Valley and across Sahaurita Road to Houghton and back home.  He got to see a lot of saguaro cactus and pecan trees.  Now they''re both watching football .

Medical Update & Friends

Well, nephew, Sean, was transported to UIC Medical Center and is doing much better.  They have zoomed in on the virus type that's in his system and are working on an antidote.  He's possibly going to have the breathing tube removed tomorrow so he will be able to breath on his own.
There is a problem between the parents and the new bride but hopefully they will resolve it for the good of Sean.  He needs them all around him.  Especially the ones who will be able to take care of him when he is released from the hospital and rehab.
Our friends, Gerry and Larry, came over last night for supper, our first dining guests in our new home.  It's been awhile since we entertained so we were a little rusty.  The food turned out tasting good but timing was a little off.    We'll have to do it more and get back in the swing of it.
Short post tonight, I've found that my favorite college basketball team, Duke, lost over the weekend and I'll be rooting for all four of the remaining NFL teams to lose the rest of their games.

Medical Journal

I'll warn you first hand that if you don't like to read about sick people you can stop reading this blog now.  It's not my favorite subject either but it's a part of life.

I'll start with the easiest, my trip to the eye doctor yesterday morning.  I'm having a problem with my right eye going blurry causing problems reading.  My left eye has always been the bad one so this was a surprise.  Fortunate we have good friends with similar problems and since they are older than us have already dealt with these types of things.(Just kidding)  Thanks to their recommendation we went to their doctor and he was fantastic.  Down to earth and listened.  He even called me by my first name and said it correctly.  Since the front desk called me MR. Cummings, it was a nice change of pace.  It's just a floater, a large one at times, that I'll deal with till my cataracts are large enough to remove.

We needed that good news because before we left Ron called one of his brothers, Greg, who had left a cryptic message on his voice mail.  Turns out Greg's youngest son, Sean, was in critical condition in the local Illinois hospital.  His body was shutting down from the infection and he doesn't have a spleen to help fight it.  He lost that in a terrible accident several years ago.  Sean was the last wedding we went to this summer.  If you remember we had three weddings, seven weeks apart.  Sean is not only our nephew but our godson.  The family has lived at our house over the years when Greg was stationed over seas with USMC.  The local hospital managed to get him stabilized and they moved him to the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago.  He made it and is still stable but he needs all our prayers.  He's a fine young man, only 29 years of age with a new bride and step daughter to take care of.

Change in Moods

After reading a friends blog I've decided I caught that writer's block too.  But then life happened.

First the washing machine sprung a leak and still hasn't been fixed.  I figured he'll get around to it in a couple weeks when he runs out of skivvies.  In the mean time I have to walk around it being out of place getting to the bathroom and bedroom.
 
Then this morning when I asked if he'd taken his shower for church and his reply was negative, I found out we don't have hot water again.  This is the fourth call to the plummer.  They won't come out today without a service charge even though it's under warranty.  Heat up the tea kettle and wash up in the sink.

Church, I'll just say they had a guest speaker this morning and we really like to hear our own pastor.

The people we usually give a ride home weren't there this morning so we stopped on the way and picked up carry out for our meal.  KFC and Subway.

After our delicious meals I sat down at this computer and typed in a name.  It immediately popped up an obituary.  Guess that answered that question.  The cranky old man that I used to call "Uncle Dinglefod" had finally died.  It said he was survived by a sister so I plugged her name and sure enough, another obituary popped up.  So this afternoon I discovered I no longer have any aunts or uncles from my father's side.  My mother was the last of her family.  It's quite a strange feeling.  The last time we visited with my aunt, about nine years ago, she treated us very inhospitably.  Never even offered us a drink of water on a warm Memorial Day.  The uncle sat an bad mouthed everyone and everything.  I guess we must have done something that upset them since I've never heard a word from them again.  So now I know where they are and won't wonder what's going on.  I feel one of my aunt's four living children should have made contact with me to let me know but I guess whatever I did nine years ago must have been pretty bad.

Happy New Year

It's finally over and life can get back to normal.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not scrooge, I enjoy the beautiful lights and decorations of the season but since we don't get to spend it with little ones anymore, it's a day to celebrate our Saviors birth.  Now that all the hoop la is over I'm glad to be back to the daily routines.
I made the traditional Pennsylvania Dutch pork roast and sauer kraut for dinner but somehow this year it was just bland and Ron thought so too so we ate a few bites and threw the kraut and potatoes away along with the horseradish that didn't have a taste either.
We were surprised with a visit from some friends from back home.  Jenne and Cliff are back in the park for the season.  It was nice seeing them and chatting for awhile.
We decided to have our own New Years Eve last night and relax and enjoy each other's company with snacks we enjoy.  It worked out very well.  Ron got his steak tartar and I got my caseo's and we didn't have to go out in the cold.
Tomorrow is back to Wednesday's for us day.  Shopping and a late lunch out and then bingo at the Rec Hall with Ron getting his peace and quiet for the evening.
Hope everyone has a Happy and Healthy and Prosperous New Year.