A birthday, friends and surgery

 Cullman,  AL

The other day as I was feeding the ducks and Biscuit I saw what I thought was a stick sitting on our porch railing.  Son in a gun...... it has legs.   I don't remember ever seeing a Walking Stick before.

Today is our son's 50th birthday.    He and Lois invited us over for lunch a couple of weeks ago to celebrate.   They fried FIVE pounds of shrimp for the four of us.   Thank goodness it was enough.

Here is Lennie and Lois.

Earlier this month Len and I attended a Tribute to Lee Greenwood in nearby Huntsville, AL.  What a show.   MCs were Mike Huckabee and Paula Deen.   And so many acts...... Oak Ridge Boys, Gatlin Brothers, Big and Rich, T Graham Brown, Crystal Gayle to name just a few.  So many, many acts.

As we sat in the nosebleed section the pictures are not good so I'll only bore you with two.

   Oak Ridge Boys:

Lee Greenwood:

Enjoying it with us was our friend Wendy.

We are still busy with Boondockers Welcome.   Our 69th guest arrives later today.

Our first guests last October were Bonnie and Earl.  They just celebrated their first anniversary as fulltime RVers.

We've kept in touch through the year.    A few weeks ago they were traveling through this area and asked to reserve a spot for a couple of days.  Their timing coordinated with when Leonard was due to enter the University of Alabama Hospital in Birmingham for a full shoulder replacement.   I asked if they wanted to stay a couple of extra days.   They checked their calendar and said they could come in on Friday the 15th and stay til Friday the 22th.  PERFECT.

This couple was such a help.  God Sent for sure.   Earl replaced a broken window in our shop.  He checked and aired all the tires in our car.  Bonnie cooked every dinner while here.   When we were gone they fed the ducks and saw that Biscuit was fed and kept company with them and their sweet dog Princess.   We could not have asked for better care.  We will be in eternal debt to these good people.

Len entered the hospital on Monday, October 18 .  They inserted a heart catheter which was kept in throughout the surgery.    He was operated on Tuesday, October 19.   I stayed both nights with him.  The first night I hardly slept, being in a recliner.  The 2nd night I zonked out.   Of course being in a hospital he was constantly being  awaken.    Had to check all the tubes, etc. you know.

He was released early evening on Wednesday.  We arrived home to a very happy dog and a meal waiting to be heated.   

Leonard is in a lot of pain.  The meds must work as he mostly sleeps.  He tried sleeping in the bed but found the recliner is more comfortable.   I just don't get it.   If the recliner is more comfortable why did he sleep in the bed in the hospital and I had to sleep in the recliner.

Until next time.

Into October

 Cullman,  AL

Ah...loving this weather.    Need to get a lot done this week.   At long last it looks like Leonard will be having surgery on his left shoulder.   He is very limited on what he can do due to both shoulders being out of service.   Shoulder replacement is scheduled for October 19 down at University of Alabama Hospital at Birmingham.   Then he will be in a sling for 6 weeks followed with physical therapy.    Glad it is happening in the fall.   

There was much we got accomplished this Spring and Summer.   And some things we need to do this coming week.    He had cleaned out more brush from our side of the creek.  It needs to be moved to the burn pile.   We will be purchasing two raspberry bushes and two blueberry bushes next Saturday.   So some shrubs need to be removed to be replaced by the new bushes.

We continue to be busy with Boondockers Welcome guests.   Just yesterday I received 3 more reservations.   It's that time of year when RVers leave the north and flock to Florida.   

Our Granddaughter Lindsey joined the Navy almost a year ago under the Nuclear Engineering Program.

She is stationed in Goose Point,  SC.   Two weeks ago she graduated from her First A School.  Leonard and I took a few days and drove over to attend.   To our surprise also there was Lindsey's sister Alex who recently moved from the Houston area to Wisconsin. 

Lindsey on the left, Alex on the right.     I took some good pictures while there but I am having trouble downloading pictures from my new phone.   After struggling to get these, I gave up for lack of patience.  Here is Lindsey in the middle.

We got another major project done at the house.  Sidewalk installed.    Here are before, during and after.

We have sold several items that we no longer have a need for.   One of them is a box trailer that we stored items in while we fulltime RVed.    We do need a trailer for times when we take the mower in for service.   But not a box trailer, just a simple small open unit.    So, off went this old friend that served us well.

All of us have seen the increases of our basic needs, including groceries.   Some months ago I placed an order for chicken and ground beef from Savory Butcher.   I saw them advertised on FB and they had great reviews.  This is a company out of Idaho that delivers meat to many areas of the country.  Every other month they come at Madison, AL about 40 miles north of us.   All orders are in bulk.  Our first order was chicken strips and 97/3 ground beef.  Each come in 40 pound packages.   We split this order with son Lennie and DIL Lois.   We were well pleased with the quality.  The ground beef has almost no fat.

Then two months ago Len and I got their Chop Box.  It included three 12oz ribeyes, three 16 oz ribeyes, four 12 oz NY Strip steaks, 5 beef tenderloins, 6 pkgs of steak bites.  After we ordered the steaks, beef prices soared.  We are so glad we had this order in. We also got 10 pounds of Italian Sausage and 10 pounds of Kielbasa.     

 Last week we again split 40 pounds of chicken breast and 40 pounds of ground beef.     The chicken breasts are the size of a turkey breast.   One half of a split breast makes a meal for us.

Our freezer is packed.   No need to but more meat for a while.

As I said we need to get a few things accomplished around here before next week.  I hear Leonard getting ready to start.  I better get outside.  Now.

Until next time.